


Bastard and the Bat

by MalisonQuill, RexBrickowski



Category: The LEGO Movie (2014), The LEGO Movie 2 (2019)
Genre: Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, IN SPACE!, Illustrations, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Rex is a bastard, Stranded, Vampires, frenemies to lovers, they use the word fuck so many times in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalisonQuill/pseuds/MalisonQuill, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RexBrickowski/pseuds/RexBrickowski
Summary: After a crash landing, (Alt) Rex and a vampire Lucy from another timeline get stranded on an alien planet. Stuck together, they have to figure out how to get along, as that's their only way to survive and find a way to get rescued.But that's easier said than done; considering that Rex has a deeply rooted hatred for every Lucy since his abandonment on Undar, and Lucy only has a limited time until she needs to feed again... that, and the planet is trying its very best to make sure don't make it out alive.
Relationships: Rex Dangervest/Wyldstyle | Lucy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. Bitter Apples Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> No Warnings for this chapter!

Rex's ears were ringing.

That was the first thing he registered as he came back to consciousness, a dull ringing cutting through the bleariness.

Yeah, the fuzziness of his thoughts and vision was the next thing he realized. He had no idea where he was or what he was doing, or...?

He shakily pushed himself up onto his arms, and then the _pain_ set in. His bad leg was killing him, and his skin felt as if it had been braised. And he had an awful pressure on his midsection, like one of Rocket's death-grip hugs... only if Rocket had ten times the strength he did now, and had decided he wanted to pop Rex like a balloon.

_"Sh... shit...!"_ He muttered, cursing being his go-to for dealing with discomfort. Or any negative emotions, really.

He lifted his head and looked around, his eyes instantly locking on the burning wreckage behind him. A ship. One of _his_ ships. One of his ships whose wing was pinning him down.

_"Whuh... What... the fuck--?!"_

There was a noise. One that rose through the chaos Lucy was soon realising she was hearing. 

She wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew she had to move, to be alert, and she needed to do it now.

She opened her eyes, then shut them immediately and groaned. It was too bright. Far, _far_ too bright. And **hot.**

_She_ was hot. She was **_burning._ **

With a hiss, she forced herself to open her eyes and look around again. But the heat wasn't coming from a sun beating down on her and burning her pale vampiric skin. No, it was coming from flames surrounding her.

There was a wreckage that she was right in the middle of, encasing her on all sides, which sent a shot of fear through her slowly beating heart.

She tried to stand, put her feet under her and move, but her head throbbed and caused the world to spin like a whirlpool around her, and she fell onto increasingly heated metal. It stung her skin, like it was biting into her viscously, and she cried out wordlessly in confusion and fear.

Rex knew that voice. He wasn't here alone. What had happened?? Who was--

_"Lucy!!"_

Rex instantly began struggling with the wing of the ship, snarling furiously as he struggled to force his knees under him. His animosity towards Lucy was temporarily forgotten in the desperation of their situation, and with the terror in her voice. He had to get to her, make sure they were both okay, FUCK his whole body hurt...!

_"L-Lucy, hang on--!!"_

His voice was cut off as he started coughing, his lungs unable to expand enough to effectively shout, the metal crushing around him, smothered by smoke. Shit!!... Okay, he just had to catch his breath, he was going to be fine, she was going to be fine--

His arms collapsed again, and he let them, focusing instead on getting a proper inhale. Once he caught his breath, he could master break right outta here. No biggie. This was no problem...

Lucy turned her head towards the sound, towards the voice she suddenly knew, and desperately needed to get to.

_"R-Rex!!"_

She moved fast once again, stumbling to stand and doing all she could to ignore her dizziness. But the moment she was on two legs and tried to move, she swayed wobbled drastically.

"I-I'm coming Rex!!" 

She threw her arms up to shield her face from the ferocious flames and tried to take a few steps forward, but she had to stumble to a stop when a beam of molten metal and firey wires came crashing down in front of her with a shriek of metal.

She instinctively hissed at the flames and tried to look over them, searching for Rex, but unable to see him through the light, bright in its own right, but practically blinding for her photosensitive vampire eyes.

"Rex! Are you okay?! I-I can't see you!!"

Rex waved a hand weakly as Lucy’s call cut through the sound of burning wreckage. _"Don't... worry about it...! I'll be up in a sec, Lucy!"_

Geez, his poor personalized Rexplorer had been fucked... The giant ship had practically shattered on impact, he could see parts of it--engines, structure, even flaming bits of computer--strewn throughout this... valley...? There were walls.

Ah, fuck, it was hard to think.

_"Okay, Rex, try again..."_ He wheezed to himself. He struggled to extend his arms again, groaning painfully from the weight. The metal on top of him started to shift.

Lucy frowned. Something about Rex didn't sound right. There was something wrong with him, she knew it. She had to get to him now.

She looked down at the obstacle in front of her, wincing as her eyes watered from the intense light. She was glad she didn't need to breathe, as she was sure from memory she'd be coughing up a lung by now if she did need to, but the light and heat was even worse to bear. She could feel her skin stinging and singing her clothes.

But she couldn't let Rex be alone anymore. All that mattered right now was that she reach Rex, and get him to safety.

She grit her teeth, took a wobbly step back, then charged forward and jumped over the metal and through the fire. She couldn't hold back a yell of pain as the flames caught her skin and set a small part of her clothes alight, but that didn't slow her down, she didn't even stop to put it out. All she did was run wildly forward to try and get out of the wreckage and head towards Rex.

"I-I'm coming!! I'm almost there Rex!!!"

Rex couldn't manage a proper response, his jaw clenched as it was. He gave a strained growl, his body stiff and electric as his master breaking abilities strengthened his muscle. The metal shrieked overhead as it bent slightly, forced upward by the body underneath it... and debris that had settled atop the wing began to shift.

Rex didn't notice. He had almost made an opening big enough to get out of...!!

Lucy's eyes darted around, her usually heightened senses dulled by her disorientation. But then she heard a screech of metal, and clumsily ran over to it, her pace quickening as her eyes locked onto Rex and the trouble she was in.

She shut out everything else, her vision tunneled onto him, she didn't even notice the burning sensation of melting fabric on her skin.

Skidding to a halt, her hands shot out, one waiting in the path of the debris above the wing, and keeping it from moving towards Rex, the other grabbing the wing next to Rex. With all her vampire strength, she pulled on the wing, groaning with effort as she lifted it as much as she could.

With their combined effort, the tip of the wing finally bent upwards far enough to free the man underneath. Rex felt the pressure on his torso release, and instantly scrambled out.

His arm shot out without hesitation as he stood, catching Lucy around the waist and dragging her away. Behind them, scraps of metal crashed to the ground, the space under the wing where he'd been trapped moments before effectively turned into a tomb.

Rex stumbled away with Lucy, refusing to look back, but he didn't make it very far before his leg gave out, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

Lucy panted as she laid sprawled out on the ground next to Rex, trying to get additional oxygen into her system to boost the blood coursing through it, one arm of hers still around Rex protectively. She didn't exactly _need_ to breathe, but it helped her calm down at least.

She stared ahead blankly, but then suddenly hissed as she once again took note of the stinging, burning sensation in her legs, and looked down to see a few small patches slowly burning away at the fabric. She quickly batted at it with her feet, trying to put it out, and thankfully succeeding with a sigh of relief.

Rex glanced over at her from where he lay sprawled on the ground at her hiss, before thunking his head on the ground again. Too tired. Didn't wanna move. Hard to breathe. Leg hurt. 

_"... Fffffffuck me..."_ he groaned into the dirt. Then, after a moment, "... You good...?"

Lucy stared blankly for a moment, still panting heavily. "... Yeah. Very dizzy, and a little singed, but, at least I'm not a pile of ash..."

After a beat, she blinked, then turned to Rex, sitting up and looking over him with immense concern as everything started to hit her.

"B-But what about you?! Are you okay?? I mean, shit!! You were being crushed under that thing!"

_"... Fuuuck..."_ Was all she got in reply to that. Then he started coughing again, the smoke finally catching up to him.

_"F-fu-uck-in--!!"_ he spluttered between his heaving. "C... Can you... g-get us out of here...??"

Lucy nodded right away and moved to a crouch beside him. "Y-Yeah. Yeah I'll get you out of here Rex! Just take it easy. Tell me if I'm hurting you." She said shakily, as she carefully moved her hands under him and started to pick him up. She didn't know where to be careful, so did her best to be as gentle as she could as he took him into her arms, holding him under his legs and around his back.

"I-- _H-hey--!"_ He hadn't really implied that he wanted to be carried bridal-style out of there, had he?? He'd just meant, like, use her bat powers to fly off or something, then get him a rope, so he could climb out of this chasm??

"I-I can walk, I c-can walk!!" he stammered, waving his hand. "Jeez, just... l-let me hold your sh-oulder or something...!!"

He looked up, scanning the walls. Looked like there was some kind of plant life overhead... not a problem. She could probably break through that, then get him up, too.

"Oh! Heh... Sorry..." She smiled sheepishly as she quickly started walking away from the crash, her focus entirely on Rex as she inspected him intently.

"But me carrying you is best for now. You were almost crushed after all. Don't want you exacerbating any possible internal bleeding."

She held him a little closer, a little more securely at saying that, not liking the images it brought up...

Rex winced as she tightened her grip, growling unhappily. "W-Watch it, _WyldStyle...!_ I'm not... fuckin… bleeding...! My leg is a b... bit fucked, that's it!"

He tried to push himself free from her grip, frustration creeping into his voice. "I just... n-need to... get back on my feet and w-work out... the kinks!"

Damn it, why did she have to go and piss him off?? He'd almost _died,_ he did NOT need his blood pressure to be fucked, too!!

The look on her face was a mix of hurt and angry, and she kept her grip secure, but lessened how tight it was. She didn't want to hurt him, but she wasn't about to let him go so he could hurt himself!

"Just take a minute to rest Rex!! You could have died from that-- that crash!! Or whatever happened! And there's no way in hell I'm going to lose you!! So j-just-!! Just stay here a damn minute!!!" She yelled.

Rex snapped his mouth shut at that, looking disgruntled.

Her words echoed in his head... 'there's no way I'm going to lose you.' As if he _mattered_ to her.

Rex closed his eyes, trying to give a sigh, but stopping as soon as he felt his chest protest, coughing softly. "... Whatever. Just... do what you need to."

She winced, but at his coughing, not his words. She really didn't like the sound of that coughing... It was never good for humans to do that.

She glanced back at the ship, then down at Rex, frowning with concern.

"Right. So... What do we do now...? The ship looks, well, totally fucked?"

Rex lifted his arm, cracking one eye open. To his relief, his communicator was still... on his wrist. ... Though it had certainly seen better days. The screen was cracked and black, no matter how much he shook it to activate it. Probably just needed some wires pushed back into place or something… 

"... We gotta... get outta here, fix this shit,” he lifted his arm to put his communicator into view, “'n then send a message to the boys n tell ‘em... w-where we are. Send 'r coordinates..."

Lucy nodded and walked a little faster, looking through the weird alien forest for a safe place far enough away from the crash site to be out of any potential explosion range. Just in case. 

"Yeah. Okay. Makes sense. We gotta get somewhere we can send a message from. Which you can do with your wrist thingy when it's fixed. Though I think once the fires go out, we should look through the ship for anything you might need. Unless you think I should go back now? Search through as best I can before more of it gets burnt?"

"... Eh..." Rex shook his head. "No point'n gettin' burned. We c'n wait."

He closed his eyes, sighing properly this time. ...It was kinda nice to be carried like this. Didn't happen often. Sucked that it was Lucy, but, whatever.

She frowned deeper at him, slowing her pace a little as she watched him, and her steps on the rough terrain with her still slightly dizzy head.

"Okay. We'll clear our heads before going back to look at it."

She wasn't sure whether him closing his eyes, possibly about to go to sleep, was good or not. She had no way to tell if he'd gotten a concussion, or if something else was wrong with him. Humans could be so fragile...

"Rex...? Other than where that wing was on you, do you feel okay? A-Are you hurt??"

"M'leg is fucked, like I said," Rex muttered. "I don't know..."

... What had happened when they crashed...? They'd hit... something in the atmosphere. And Rex had been yelling at Lucy to strap herself down, trying to get some semblance of control... He didn't remember if he had strapped himself down, though. Had he gotten hurt in any other way? He just remembered clutching the control panel, seeing the ground hurtling towards them, then... nothing.

"... I don't f'kin know."

... She really wasn't liking that. Didn't like the sound of any of it. But there wasn't much she could do. She'd been staring at him, trying to sense if there was any blood in any places it shouldn't be in his body, but he seemed fine. There were no major hemorrhages, or big pools of blood she could sense inside him. So hopefully he was fine on that front at least. But even so, she still kept her eyes, ones glowing red from using her powers, constantly on him.

"O-Okay... Well, your leg looks pretty straight, so I don't think it's broken at least...?"

"Nah. Not broken. My leg gettin' fucked is normal. Long story..."

He huffed, then opened one eye to give her a grumpy look. What was she fussing over him for? "... What gives?"

Looking away, Lucy bit her lip, and held him to her a little closer.

"It's just... That was a bad crash, and you're human, and I'm worried you're hurt in a way I can't immediately see. And you seem like you want to pass out, and I don't know if that's good, so you can rest and recover, or if that's bad c-cause... If you... You sleep a-and don't... W-wake up...?"

She slowed her pace right down, looking away from his gaze as much as she could, as her eyes threatened to water.

Rex frowned deeply at her teary expression. She... she was... worried about him dying...??

"... Hey. Dummy." He snapped his fingers to make her look at him. "I may be human, but I just so happen to be… on the tougher end of the scale there. I've been through worse. A lot fuckin' worse. You think this is the first time… a ship of mine has crashed? I'm not gonna die because of one little crash into a valley. Calm down. ...You can put me down."

She had to admit, that was true. He'd survived a lot before this. She didn't know everything _this_ particular Rex went through, but she had a good idea of what the Rex in her own timeline had. But, even so... Her Rex was a _werewolf,_ and this one was a _human_. Tough or not, he didn't have the same healing factor as her boyfriend.

"J-Just a sec. I think there's a clearing up ahead. I'll put you down there."

She seemed a little less worried about him now, but it was still plain to see a lot of it on her face.

Rex shook his head slightly, rolling his eyes. She was so damn sappy... and all over _him._ A Rex she only cared about by proxy, because he happened to be similar to her boyfriend. Too damn soft.

"Okay. We can sit and rest, we need it. But I'll be fine after a breather, alright?"

She nodded, trying her best to believe it as she entered the clearing, and scanned the area for any aliens or hazards.

"Yeah, alright Rex."

Rex snorted slightly, sensing that she wasn't convinced. "Okay, good. Now hurry up and put me down. You smell like burned hair."

She seemed ruffled at that, frowning a little as her annoyance riled up. But she quickly sighed and tried to calm down. She didn't want to be mad at him now.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll put you down..."

So, she slowly crouched, and very gently lowered Rex to the ground, making absolutely sure she wouldn't jostle him at all.

Rex sat up once he was on the ground, getting to work dusting himself off. Seems being surrounded by crushing metal had saved him from the flames at least, his clothes were only slightly blackened by soot. Smelled like Lucy had gotten worse.

"We should probably find a water source," he said, glancing up at her. "... You got burned, right? You should take care of that. And I'm thirsty as balls."

Standing up, she looked around curiously, but couldn't see anything obvious through the thick forest.

"Yeah, I'll go fly up above this place and scout out one from above. Hopefully it won't be too far. I'd like to take care of this stinging soon. Being burnt always sucks for me."

Rex nodded slightly. He'd figured as much.

"Good idea. I'll do a self-checkup, so you can stop fussing over me. When you find some water, take care of yourself first, then come let me know." He waved a hand through the air as he turned to examine his leg, dismissing her.

She took a few steps away and looked up through the trees, trying to see any obvious gap in them, but not finding anything. But then she paused and turned back.

"Wait, do you have anything to defend yourself if any aliens come along? Besides master breaker fists that is??"

Rex thought for a moment. "Hm... My blasters were back on the ship, but..." He grimaced, clearing his throat. "Uh... Oh!!"

He reached down, pulling a blade from its sheath on his belt, holding it up proudly. "I got _this_ bad boy! Rocket gave it to me, I never go anywhere without it!"

Lucy looked at the knife and nodded with a small smile. "Excellent! Glad to know you've got something to keep you safe."

Rex gave a satisfied grin, replacing his knife in its casing. "Yeah. You don't gotta worry about me none. Go do what you gotta."

He looked away again, their conversation apparently over.

She stuttered a bit in her mind, confused by his abrupt ending. But it was probably her, so used to having long banter with her own Rex. But apparently this one wasn't up for that...

Oh well. She had a job to do.

So she focused all she could, held her arms out, then, in a puff of smoke, turned into a bat and started to fly upward.

Rex couldn't help but glance over as she transformed into a bat, eyes tracking her progress silently.

... Man. It must be cool, having abilities like that. He had to admit that he found it all rather impressive, the super strength and bat form and everything...

He gave a quiet hmph, pulling himself from his thoughts, turning his attention back to his leg.

Lucy flew through the large, overhanging tree branches, expertly weaving through them, guided by sound. But soon the foliage started to get more dense, and she realised the trees turned into something else. It was a gnarled, tangled mess of thorns and branches, that seemed to get increasingly closer together.

It forced her to stop flying entirely, and she had to land and start to climb and crawl up trying to get through them. But even her small bat form wasn't enough to get through the maze of brambles.

A spike of panic shot through her as she momentarily got confused, and lost her sense of direction. She couldn't tell up from down, left from right, and started squeaking loudly in her rising stress.

She tried to go in a direction which she thought was up, but she couldn't be sure, and whilst she wasn't paying attention, a large sharp thorn caught the membrane of her wing and pierced through it, making her squark and screech in shock.

Rex looked up sharply at the frightened noise, tensing. "Lucy?!"

Another noise, this one of pain.

Rex cursed, pushing himself up to his feet. He tested his leg, and fortunately it took his weight. "Hang on! I'm coming!"

Damn. He already had to pay her back for getting the ship off of him... they were gonna struggle with this, weren't they...??

Lucy managed to hear him and calmed down enough, despite her sudden pain, to focus on the direction of it.

Carefully she pulled her wing off of the large thorn, and immediately it started to bleed a dark red. Her blood was darker than a humans, but not the near black it was when she was running low, due to the fresh raptor blood she'd drunk before they left the Rexcelsior.

Carefully she curled her wings tighter to her body, and started to make her way towards the sound of Rex's voice, squeaking and screeching, less panicked now, and more to try and communicate with Rex as she got closer to him.

Rex followed the sounds of her squeaks, careful not to put too much weight on his leg until he knew it really was fine. He managed to pinpoint her noisy descent, and peered up through the branches. When he spotted movement, he lifted his hands up towards the overgrowth, giving her a safe spot to land. 

"What the _fuck_ are you doing in there??"

She squeaked sadly back at him as she landed on a branch above him, and stained it with a small splash of blood. It wasn't like she stabbed her wing on purpose! But of course, he couldn’t see that yet.

She spotted Rex's outstretched hands, aimed, opened her wings, and did her best to glide down into them.

Rex carefully caught her, cradling her gently. Sure, they didn’t exactly get along, but he knew how to handle small animals, and could tell from the blood that she was hurt. Not like he wanted anything bad to happen to her. He was an _asshole,_ not a _jerk._

He held her carefully on one of his palms, fingers splayed out so her little hind claws could hold onto them. Then, gently, he unfurled her wing with his other hand. He winced as he took in the injury, the delicate membrane pierced right through. "Shit, how'd you do _that...??"_

She started to explain what happened to him, squeaking and clicking and making short screeches, but she quickly realised that, unlike her werewolf boyfriend, this human Rex couldn't understand her. So she shut her mouth, looking at her injury as she thought, then she looked further down at the knife on Rex's belt, and pointed at it with her uninjured wing and squarked at it.

Rex had been staring blankly at her as she made bat noises, but his gaze snapped back into focus at her gestures.

He looked down at his knife, frowned at her, then glanced up into the branches overhead. "You got stabbed up there?"

She made a motion with her wing, similar to a hand tilting in a 'half' motion, whilst also nodding.

"Kind of. Okay."

Rex sighed, letting go of her wing, cupping his hand around her. "Will it take long for that to heal?"

She kept her wing extended and dangling to the side of his hand, not wanting to curl it up again and hurt her wound.

She gave him a head shake 'no', which was partly true, and partly not. It'd heal and stop bleeding within a few minutes, thanks to her still full stomach, but healing the hole would take longer. But that was something she could do in human form. Not that she could even begin to explain all that with bat charades.

Rex nodded in satisfaction. "Okay. New plan. _I'll_ go get water, while your wing heals. You stay here." He moved to one of the trees, moving to set her on a thick, low-hanging branch.

Lucy made a very sad, almost scared squeaking sound as she curled in on herself, giving him a very apologetic look as her little bat feet squeezed his hand. She messed it all up already. And she wasn't exactly fond of being left a sitting duck either.

He hesitated for a moment, hands poised above the branch. Geez, little critters could tug on his heart strings.... Even little critters named Lucy.

"... Listen, idiot, it wouldn't be safe for me to take you with you just yet. Not until you can fly, or until you can safely become human again without bleeding all over the place.. This is the safest option, okay?"

Lucy's ears turned back and went flat, but she nodded and screeched quietly in confirmation. She had to agree, but she didn't like Rex being alone.

Rex huffed, then carefully placed her on the branch, sliding his hands out from under her. "I'll come back after 250 paces at most, then come back and try another direction."

Again, she nodded, as she firmly planted herself on the branch with her one wing and feet, staying in exactly the same spot Rex had put her, with no intent to leave, or even move until he came back.

Rex seemed satisfied with this, and turned away into the trees.

Then, his gait only slightly lopsided, he strode off into the unknown, counting under his breath.


	2. Bitter Apples Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Warnings for this chapter!

Lucy stayed where she was on that branch for quite a while. She wasn't sure how much time had passed; here was no way to measure it without a sky to see. But she knew that it had been long enough for her wing to stop bleeding, but not so much time that the hole had really begun to rejuvenate.

Still, all the while she kept her ears swiveling, on high alert, waiting for Rex to come back to her.

Then, suddenly, a sound caught her attention. Footsteps! ... Accompanied with another, methodical sound. The footsteps would stop, then there would be a 'swish-thunk,' then the steps would continue.

After a few moments of listening to this odd noise, Rex came into view. He was pausing beside trees on his path, swinging his knife to cut a nick into the bark, marking his path.

She lit up when she saw him, squeaking happily as she waved her good wing at him in welcoming.

Rex glanced up from his work, quirking one eyebrow up at her excitement.

"Hello to you, too! Good news, I found a stream." He gestured with his knife the way he came. "It's deep enough to drown you as a bat, but probably only comes up to your knees as a human. And it's not poisonous."

... Yeah he could have just started with the knees part?

She made a slight face at that, but quickly made an animalistic noise, that sounded almost like chuckling as she shook her head. Good thing she couldn't actually drown anymore.

Satisfied with his markings, he put his knife away and walked over to the branch. "I take it you're staying bat for now?"

She shrugged and tilted her head, trying to say how she could go either way, then she opened up her wings, in a 'please pick me up motion', almost like a little kid would do if they wanted to get down from somewhere high.

Rex snorted, rolling his eyes as he moved to lift her up again. Though, honestly, the eyeroll was aimed at himself, not her. (Not that he'd admit it.) She did look cute doing that... 'Upsies'... Okay, but really, anyone would have found that cute.

"All right, I'm coming." As he scooped her into his hands again, "Am I putting you on the ground, or what?"

She thought for a minute, then nodded and gave him a toothy, fanged grin, and her sweetest big eyes and bat squeak.

Rex gave her a suspicious look, but didn't question it as he placed her gently on the grass, then took a step back.

She gave him a nod, then did her best to stand straight on her little bat legs and hold her wings out. Then, she thought really hard, and in a moment, she had transformed back into her human form.

In an instant she winced and grabbed her arm, holding it tight for a moment, before she pulled back her sleeve and revealed a big dent in her forearm that had grazed over already, healing well, but still looking pretty nasty.

Rex leaned in to give it a look, wincing with sympathy pain at the injury. "Geez... Yeah, no, that... Yikes. I'm glad you were still a bat at the beginning there."

He shook his head, standing up straight. "C'mon, let's get you to the water."

Lucy held her arm tentatively, keeping an eye on her wound, not that it would change anything or make it heal faster.

"Yeah, okay. Getting this cleaned would be good, but luckily I'm all, 'fuelled up' so to speak? So this will heal up quick. Maybe by tomorrow at most. But, yeah... Would have been more grizzly if I'd changed right away. Sorry I couldn't tell you that directly."

"Nah, that's what I figured. I don't really know how your anatomy works, wasn’t sure if it lined up exactly between human and bat, but I thought things might be bad... "

She was relieved to see his limp had all but vanished as he let them in the direction he had marked.

"So, what stuck you up there?"

"It was really weird..." She said as she followed alongside him, and held her arm to her chest protectively.

"I went above the trees, but there were these... Brambles? Just a thick cluster of branches and huge thorns blocking the way above the trees! The further up I got, the closer together they were. I tried my best to squeeze through what gaps I could, but it got so claustrophobic, and I got confused which way I was going, and I got distracted by that and caught my wing on one of many thorns... It was kind of dumb to be honest. But luckily I could still hear you and find my way out."

The sound of running water was ahead of them now, getting louder as she spoke. 

Rex nodded slightly as she finished talking, his expression grave. "... Shit. I was hoping you weren't gonna say that." Rex gestured ahead of them.

And there was the stream... But despite the lack of trees in and surrounding its banks, the water was still in shadow. A quick glance up revealed a blanket, woven of brambles and thorns and vines, spanning across the river where the sky should have been visible, almost seeming to defy gravity in its rigidity. 

"... It must be like this everywhere..."

Lucy stared up at it, her red eyes wide with terror.

"Fuck... I... If I couldn't even get through that as a tiny bat, how are we gonna get you through...?"

Rex sighed. "If it really is like this everywhere, I guess we can find a spot where they're not as thick, and I hack through them...?" Rex suggested, fingering the hilt of his knife.

"We'll figure it out later. You get yourself cleaned up."

"Right. Sure..."

Lucy slowly walked up to the stream, plagued by thoughts and worry as she unzipped her hoodie and took it off, revealing a white, V-necked, sleeveless tank top and a slim, muscular frame that had been hidden by her baggier hoodie.

Rex realized he was staring, and quickly looked away as his cheeks burned.

... Well, she was attractive! That was obvious!! Was it a crime to acknowledge that someone was attractive??... God damn it.

Rex stalked off down the riverbank, eyes locked on the thorns overhead, sulking.

Lucy didn't really notice him, instead focused on cleaning her wound in the water as she crouched down beside the stream and plopped her hoodie down beside her on the bank.

When Rex deduced that he wasn't going to find any thin parts above the stream, he started wandering back, keeping his eyes on the trees to avoid looking at Lucy. "I guess the next best place to check would be back by the shipwreck. See if we can climb through the hole the ship must have made."

Lucy looked up at him as she continued to cup and splash some water onto her wound. "Sounds good. If we can get up to the hole from some of the trees, you can hang onto me and I can walk upside down on the vines and we can get out of it easily."

Rex snorted in amusement at that mental image, but nodded. Yeah, kind of silly, but effective! "Sounds like a plan, then."

He walked past her, eyes still scanning the plant life, before crouching beside the river, upstream from Lucy, to get another drink. Damn, smoke was a bitch.

Lucy kept her eyes on him for a moment, just watching him curiously, but doing so made her distracted, and she accidentally splashed a bit of cold water onto her chest instead of her arm, which made her yelp in surprise.

Rex coughed, lifting his head from the water to look over at her sharply, eyes wide and alert. More danger--?!

... Her shirt was wet down against her--

"What the fuck happened??" Rex barked, being extra aggressive in his tone to make sure she wouldn't notice his bright red face.

"N-Nothing!!! It's nothing! I just splashed myself by accident! And it's really cold. Calm down Rex." She shook her head and tried to wipe herself with her dry hand, trying to pull and squeeze the fabric to get the moisture out.

"Thought somethin' serious happened...!" he huffed as he turned away, relieved that she hadn't seemed to catch his face. "Be careful, fuck's sake."

She huffed in annoyance, frowning as she let go of her shirt, and sat back from the bank, as she finished cleaning her arm.

"It was just water, dummy..."

"Well, yeah, but don't go shoutin' when nothing's actually wrong..." he muttered, still feeling defensive from his earlier embarrassment.

She glanced over at him with her arms crossed under her chest, a little grumpy from her shirt still being damp and Rex's attitude to her, but then she paused, and smirked at him.

"Wait a minute... Are you blushing?"

"What?? Fuck no! Fuck off!!" Damn it! If his face had faded from red before she asked, it was certainly red again, now!!

She grinned a little wider, and purposely moved her arms closer together to lift her breasts up a little, knowing it would tease him.

"No need to get defensive Rexy.~ I'm sure it's nothing to do with me, right?"

He caught her movement, and glanced over at her to shoot her an unamused look-- Just for his face to take the plunge right to crimson.

Rex shot to his feet, trying to look angry rather than flustered. _"Don't fucking call me that!!"_ he snapped, before turning and storming back through the trees, cursing her as he did.

"Rex, wait!" She called out, as she used her unnatural speed to quickly stand, grab her hoodie, and catch up to him in a flash.

"Look I'm sorry! I was just teasing!"

Rex scoffed, determinedly not looking at her, annoyed that she'd followed him. "Harmless-- know your fuckin audience, genius!! I'm not your fluff-for-brains boyfriend!!!"

She kept on following him, staying a little behind him to his side, giving him a bit of space.

"I know you're not! But I just-- It's just habit Rex! I playfully tease everybody, like Rocket does with you. And you don't seem to get genuinely mad at him like this!"

"Because he's Rocket. He's my best friend, partner, and I know and trust him. And you? Got _none_ of those things." Why didn't she go back to splashing water all over herself and leave him alone? What did she care??

She tried her best to hide the look of hurt on her face, brushing it away and replacing it with a more pleading one.

"I know I don't. And I don't expect to ever get to the same level as him, but just--... Can't you try to give me any slack...? I mean, what have I, me specifically, ever done to you...?"

Rex opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

Then stopped walking, so suddenly Lucy almost ran into him.

"... Nothing." He tilted his head, glaring up at the branches. "You didn't do anything. And I know that. But you'll have to _ex-fuckin-scuse_ me for not dancing with joy at the fact that you're here."

He meant more than just being on this planet with him with that comment. Why the hell did she have to have appeared in his timeline? He and his squad were perfectly fine as they were. They didn't need a _Lucy_ hanging around. 

Lucy stayed behind him, idly fiddling with her hoodie as she held it over her chest and stared at Rex's back.

"That's... fine. You're allowed to want someone else here, and I get that. But... Unfortunately we're stuck together, and we don't know for how long. So we might as well _try_ to get along? If I do something you don't like, just, tell me and I'll do my best to stop or not bug you with it. Alright...?"

There was a moment of silence, and Lucy's shoulders slumped slightly. 

"... Please, Rex…? "

Rex didn't move for a moment, unsure how he wanted to respond, and not wanting to say anything with his body language until he came up with a proper reply.

Finally, he sighed, relaxing and scratching the back of his neck. She wasn't doing this on purpose to piss him off, he knew it, but… 

"... Fine. I guess... just. No. 'Flirting.' It... makes me uncomfortable."

Even though he couldn't see her, she nodded. As she started putting on her hoodie again, she spoke, softly and concedingly. "Okay, no problem Rex. I'll dial back on it."

She finished and pulled her zip all the way up to cover her damp shirt, the action making a telltale 'Vrrp' noise.

Rex finally glanced back at her at the noise, relaxing. "... So, uh, you need to stay by the stream any more, or...? Are we heading back to the crash."

Geez. You could cut the tension with a knife.

She cleared her throat, then crossed both her arms over her chest as she looked away.

"Well that will have cleaned most of the crap out of it. My body should take care of the rest of the healing just fine, so, I guess the crash site it is....?"

Rex coughed, looking straight ahead again. "Right. Good plan. Let's uh... go do that."

He took a few steps, paused to make sure she was following. As she did, he turned away and moved on, Lucy close behind.

This was gonna be fine.


	3. Bitter Apples Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Warnings for this chapter!

Yeah... this wasn't fine. Nothing was fine.

Rex was up on top of the smoking wreckage of his ship, hacking desperately at the vines. There was no way they could have grown back this thick in the half hour they'd been gone!!

He shouted angrily with each pointless slash of his blade, venting his frustration into the motions.

"STUPID-- FUCKING-- PLANTS!!!"

Lucy stood away from him... upside down, on the vines themselves with her hair hanging down towards the ground, just watching him as he hacked at them.

She'd tried to kick and punch at the vines with her vampiric strength, but that hadn't done much good. The vines and brambles just kept coming back.

"... You tried putting some master breaking into those slashes?"

"I was getting there!!" Rex shot back. 

He paused in his hacking, bouncing on his feet like a boxer. "Damn vegetation, you think you and your freaky regeneration is gonna stop us from getting out of here?? You ain't seen _Rex Style_ yet!!! **_RRRRRAAGH!!!"_ **

He began attacking the plants with renewed vigor, severed vines and brambles falling around his feet. But even as he worked on carving a hole into the weaving above, the severed ends began... moving, slowly encroaching around him.

Lucy was quite impressed as she watched him, and he finally seemed to be making some progress in getting through them. But then her eye caught the ends of the vines moving, and she frowned deeply in confusion.

"Rex, the vines are--!"

"Can't you see I'm a bit bus--?? _Woa--?!"_

The moment he paused to reply, one of the vines had curled around his knife arm, holding him fast. He quickly switched hands to hack it off, but more were moving to take its place, dipping down from the foliage above, inching towards his neck.

It was under attack, it was going to defend itself. Eliminate the threat.

These definitely weren't plants you'd find on Earth...

Plants on earth couldn't _think._

Lucy didn't hesitate.

She ran over the vines towards Rex, took hold of the one around his arm and snapped it in two. Quickly she took the one that had started to partly wrap around his neck and pulled it away, crushing it for good measure.

"We gotta move!!!"

"Roger!!" Rex yelped, scrambling down from the wreckage and taking off into the trees, heart racing.

The plants lazily reached down for a moment, as if considering giving chase, but then went back to work knitting itself back together. In less than a minute, there was no evidence of Rex's handiwork.

Lucy had jumped down and ran by Rex's side away from the vines, looking over her shoulder at the vines where Rex had been with muted horror.

Rex stopped running a safe distance away, panting, hand on his throat.

 _"... Holy... fuck...!!"_ He hadn't meant for that to sound like a whimper, but his voice was still high and tight from stress.

Lucy stopped beside him, resting a hand on his back as she glanced back and made sure they weren't being followed.

"Looks like those vines aren't coming after us."

Rex glanced up at the canopy, still uneasy. "... Okay. Right."

He didn't quite mind her comforting touch, but he still took a step away from her as he straightened back up. He gave his throat a rub, shuddering at the memory of how that vine had felt around it. "... All right, they got a defense mechanism. Attacking them isn't gonna work. That's fine, that's okay, we can find another way out. These plants probably can't grow everywhere."

Slowly she lowered her hand by her side, keeping a close eye on him, especially his throat.

"Yeah. There's gotta be somewhere, I'm sure. Will probably take a lot of walking, or flying around though."

Rex nodded slightly. "It looks like a big valley. It wouldn't make sense to stay together. So... Do we have the ship be our 'base point'? If it hasn't exploded by now, I don't think it will."

She pursed her lips in thought, and crossed her arms as she tapped her foot. "Hmm... We could cover more ground that way, but what if there are more dangerous things in this valley? Like animals, or more crazy vines? Being on our own could be dangerous."

Rex nodded slowly as he considered this. "... I dunno. The more time we waste in here the less I like it."

There was safety in numbers, yeah. And Lucy had more than proven that she had his back by now.

"... We'll stick together, but if nothing jumps out at us, I suggest we split up after an hour. Right?"

"Good plan. And when we split up, if we get into trouble and aren't back at the ship in time, we'll head in the same direction that the other went and look for them?" She said.

"Yeah, when we split we'll divide and conquer, know where the other person is looking."

He snapped his fingers. "We'll each take one side of the river, stay within 100 paces of the bank."

She lit up at that, smiling at him warmly. "Yeah! Great plan Rex. This river has to have a source somewhere, and that source has to be outside of these vines!"

Rex snapped his fingers, pointing at her as he grinned. "Bingo!! You'll check upstream, see where the source is, and I'll look downstream, see where it leads out to!!"

She grinned widely, putting her hands on her hips as she stood tall.

"Excellent! We'll make a great team for sure."

Rex shot her a confident look. "Hell yeah. For now, we'll scour the area around the ship until we split."

"Alright. Let's go!" She said with a smile, as she turned and the pair set off on their search.

\-----

Lucy stood by the wreckage of the ship, tapping her foot as she looked up at the impossible vines tangled together above her head, wondering how they worked, and if maybe there'd be any way at all to get through them, on the off chance they couldn't find a way around it.

Rex waved as he approached, though his face was stormy. He scanned her, reading her body language, and telling it wasn't gonna be a happy chat.

"... I take it you don't have good news, either."

Nodding, she took a few steps closer to him, meeting him in the middle. "Unfortunately I don't. There wasn't a single gap in the crap up there my way. And there was no sign of life either..."

Rex scowled, shaking mud from his boot.

"There's a pond. It pools in a pond, and doesn't fuckin anywhere else. Got more of those fuckin trees, growing right out of the water... And I didn't see any fish."

Rex rubbed a hand over his eyes. "... This place is a death trap."

"It certainly looks like it..." She grumbled, as she flicked a leaf off of her sleeve.

"I didn't have enough time to explore all of the river upstream. I didn't end up reaching the source. There's still hope there could be something that way."

Rex sighed, shrugging slightly. "Let's hope. I need a fuckin nap."

"You want to have a break for the night? Or, day, or whatever it is...? Should we take shifts keeping watch?" She asked.

Rex shrugged halfheartedly again. "I'm planning on working on my communicator until I pass out. If nothing has attacked us yet, I doubt anything will."

She nodded. "Right. Good idea. You do that, and I could go grab you some fruit I saw along the river? Or rummage through the ship some more for rations for you? If you think there'd be any?"

"Possibly? I'd be more inclined to check the ship before trusting these fucked up plants," Rex grumbled, sitting down on part of the hull.

"But based on the state of the wreckage? We probably won't find anything."

"You never know!" She tried to say cheerfully, giving him a grin and a wink.

"And hey, at least If I do find any food, it's only gotta go to one person instead of two. So that's an upside right?"

"I guess."

But then again, thinking about that made him uneasy...

They didn't have any provisions for her.

Other than... well.

Himself.

"... We'll search the ship, if we don't find anything, Imma fix my communicator and crash here while you go fuck with some plants."

Snorting, she shook her head and backed away, before turning around and headed into the wreckage, calling over her shoulder.

"Roger that Captain Dangervest!~"

Rex got back on his feet with a tired grunt, before going to follow Lucy into the crash. It was a good thing she was still chipper, at least. Being stranded with a vampire in a bad mood was the last thing his health needed.


	4. Bitter Apples Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warning: Emetophobia, Vomiting
> 
> Chapter Summary: Lucy finds some fruits for Rex to eat. She attempts to eat them first to test for poison, as her vampire body would be able to handle poisoning much better than his human one. The food is not poisonous, or dangerous in any other way, but because vampires can't eat solid food Lucy gets sick. Rex fails at comforting her, and Lucy sadly tries to sleep everything off, longing for her Rex to find and save them.

"Rex, I'm back! Got a big hoodie bindle of weird fruit and berries for you!" Lucy called out, as she walked up to the crash site campground from the forest undergrowth. But she paused and frowned when she didn't get an immediate response, and glanced around curiously.

"... Rex? You still here grumpy gus??"

There was a quiet snort, like a snore interrupted.

Yeah... he'd 'crashed hard.'

"'Mmmm here Lu..." Rex muttered sleepily, sitting up, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the piece of ship he'd fallen asleep under. He didn't remember where he was for a moment, the metal in his face making him yelp in surprise, and his knees jerked up, and he ended up hitting the metal with a resounding CLANG.

"FUCK!!!!"

She jogged over to him immediately, sighing with relief when she saw him rubbing his head and grumbling to himself angrily. She tried to give him a sympathetic smile, and a little wave. "Good morning Rex?"

"Nothin' good 'bout it," he grunted, pushing himself to his feet, one hand still pressed to where his head had collided with the metal. He grimaced over at Lucy, trying to see what she was holding.

"What is it? Y'find something?"

She shrugged, then held out her wrapped up hoodie prominently, giving him a bit of a smile. "Found a lot of food and berries for you. Thought it'd be better than, well, nothing?"

Rex glanced over at the package she held, a bit of fear flickering through his eyes. His hand lowered from his head, briefly hovering over his throat, before dropping to his side. "... I think... You know, on second thought... I'm not hungry yet. We can. Save those for later."

Being almost strangled by a plant doesn't exactly make you inclined to eat one.

She lowered it a little, then glanced between it and him tentatively.

"Look, I know you and the plants here don't get along, but you're gonna need to eat to keep your strength up. And keep that big brain of yours fuelled up so you can work on your gadgets and get us out of here." She spoke with a sincere, but also light-hearted tone. But after a brief moment of thought, she smiled, as reassuringly as she could.

"But how about this? I can be a Guinea pig for you? I can test this stuff, eat a bit of it so we know it's safe for you?"

Rex's eyes narrowed. "But you can barely eat a blood-soaked slab of meat, much less fruits! Won't you throw it up anyway?"

Lucy shook her head. "I might be able to keep down just a bite or two if the fruit is safe. If I can't, it'll take a little while for me to throw it up. And if it is poisonous or something, I'd react and throw it up immediately. And well, at the very least if I ate some, we know if it would be corrosive or some shit? Cause I could just heal if it was. That's better than knowing nothing about it and you eating it right?"

"... I guess." Rex moved to sit atop his spot on the wrecked hull again, crossing his arms. "This better not make you sick. I don't know how to care for a sick vampire."

...Other than giving his blood. And that sure as fuck wasn't happening.

She moved to sit down next to him on the floor, unravelling her hoodie and splaying it out like a makeshift picnic blanket.

"The worst it's probably going to do, if anything, is make me throw up. After that I'll feel like crap for a bit, like anyone would, but I'd be fine after a couple hours. So you don't have to worry about being my nursemaid or anything Rex."

She didn't know whether to point out an important downside of that outcome happening. Namely that she'd get rid of the slowly depleting blood left in her stomach, and the only 'resource' around for her seemed to be Rex...

But, no, she had to test this for him. He was the one who had the best chance of getting them rescued sooner. And if he could eat this fruit, they needed to know so he could keep his strength up. That was the most important thing to her.

She took one of the striped... Apple?? Kind of fruit and held it in her hand, turning it over curiously.

How long had it been since she'd eaten a fruit...? Years?? She couldn't remember.

Rex watched her closely, brow furrowed. She was taking a while to consider. Was she not telling him something...?

"What's the holdup?"

Her eyes darted over his way for a moment, before looking back at the thing in her hand, and she shrugged. "I just... Haven't eaten something like this in... Years. It's..." She trailed off, looking melancholic, then shook her head.

"It's nothing. I'll just eat it now."

With that, she took a tentative yet sizable bite, feeling her teeth pierce through its outer skin, and sink into the harder inside.

Rex glanced away as she bit down, suddenly uncomfortable. He wasn't sure why this made him so uneasy, but it did. 

It was all for the sake of survival, this was fine...

Lucy visibly grimaced when she took a bite of it into her mouth and started chewing. It was juicy and wet, but, like most food, it tasted like ash and mud to her. It took all her willpower not to gag and spit it back up right away, as if her body knew she shouldn't be eating something solid like this.

She looked down at the fruit in her hand, seeing a lighter purple, almost lilac colour on the inside, and drops of a translucent pink liquid dripping from inside it.

After what she assumed was enough chewing (at least as much as she could handle), she swallowed, then shuddered at the lingering taste it had left in her mouth.

Rex looked over at her cautiously as she lowered the fruit from her mouth, worry etched into the lines in his face. An uncommon expression for him.

"... How you feelin'...?"

Her grimace stayed on her face as she put the fruit back onto her hoodie, and wiped her hand on her leg. "Well, it was disgusting, but that's how food always tastes, so I can't confirm if it is actually bad tasting or not. But uh, other than that...?"

She paused and thought. Her stomach churned a little, but no more than it normally would.

"Hmm.... Well it isn't melting my insides, and I don't feel immediately queasy, sooo... I think you're good?"

Rex glanced down at her wrapped-up hoodie, nodding. Somehow, this didn't make him feel any better.

"... Okay. Thanks, Lucy. That's good to know."

Fruit wasn't poisonous. That was a surprise... considering how intent these plants seemed on killing them.

"No problem." She said, as she sat back against a piece of metal and huffed. "I should probably check those berries too. Just cause the 'apples' are safe, doesn't mean those will be."

The thought of her forcing herself to eat more of that crap wasn't encouraging.

But, well. She wouldn't die if they were poisonous, at least, unlike him...

"... Do what you gotta," he replied, reaching in to grab an 'apple.'

She nodded, then grabbed a small handful of the deep blue berries, wrinkling her nose as she looked at them. They weren't at all appetising. And even if they turned out to not be poisonous, it'd still make her stomach complain like hell later. But it was for Rex, to keep him safe. That was what mattered, so that was what she focused on.

So, she quickly shoved them into her mouth, chewed on them a bit, feeling liquid burst from them as her teeth crushed them. Then she swallowed them down and waited for any reaction.

Rex continued looking away as she ate the berries, taking a bit of one of the apples. His face twisted slightly at the taste, shaking his head. The taste was strong and bittersweet, and very unpleasant when compared to apples on Earth.

But it was what he got.

Lucy tried her best to relax, and wrapped her arms around her stomach as it gurgled and twisted slightly. It didn't seem to hate the berries, but it didn't like them either.

"Those apples taste any better to you than me...?"

Rex chewed and swallowed quickly, shuddering as the bitterness hit the back of his throat. 

"Well. They ain't as good as our apples, by any means. Bitterness cancels out any other taste. But. Food is food." He gave her a once-over, nervous. "You uh... feeling okay?"

"They're not poisonous if that's what you mean?" She said, trying to give him a smile as she felt a pang of pain in her intestines and winced.

"Yeah, that's what I meant... Good, good..." Rex mumbled, lowering his gaze.

"... Thanks, Lucy."

"No problem Re--" She suddenly paused, throwing a hand over her mouth as she retched, then closed her eyes and grabbed at her stomach.

"Urgh... Crap..."

Rex got to his feet immediately, hovering nervously at her side. Crap, he didn't have a bucket or anything to offer her...!

"U-uh, l-let's get you over to those bushes, okay?"

She lifted a hand up to him and nodded slowly, still keeping on arm to her waist. "I-I might be okay... But it'd be a good precaution."

Rex grabbed her wrist, slowly hoisting her to her feet.

Damn it, why did this make him feel so panicked?? She wasn't dying or anything, she was just gonna puke her guts out!

_ … Because she can't eat food. Because there's only one thing she can eat. _

"Easy does it, just a few steps."

She let out a burp as they got closer to the bushes, then a groan as her insides twisted in protest. But even so, she did her best to clear her head and ignore her nausea. She had to keep the blood she still had down. She couldn't afford to lose it!!

Rex let her position herself, leaning against a tree, and backed away slightly.

Fuck. Shit. They shouldn't have done this. He should have just sucked it up and eaten the apple when he got hungry enough, a day or two down the road. Odds are they weren't even going to be here that long!!

This was an awful idea.

"I'm gonna go... keep working on my communicator...!"

Lucy couldn't help but let out a small whimper at that, not wanting him to leave her as her stomach yelled at her, but also not wanting to force him to stay as she closed her eyes rested the back of her hand on her forehead.

"A-Ah... Okay Rex."

Rex felt a pang of guilt as he turned away, but, with effort, shrugged it off.

_ She _ was the one who suggested this, not him. Surely she was ready to deal with the consequences. They had to stay focused on getting back. HE had to stay focused. Finish repairing his communicator, and get help.

Lucy panted hard as she rested against the tree, her eyes screwed shut as she tried to ride out the discomfort. But she knew she wasn't about to win this fight. She would have been able to handle some food on a full stomach, but it hadn't been full in over a day or so now.

With a groan and a number of audible gurgles from her stomach, she fell to her knees and started retching.

Rex flinched, wishing he could cover his ears or... something. But he felt that would just be disrespectful to her. It was him that she had done this for, after all.

So instead he just sat back down on his spot, hunched over the communicator he held in his lap.

There were a couple minutes of uncomfortable sounds coming from where Lucy was, as she coughed and retched her last meal back up. It didn't take long, probably thanks to her all liquid diet, before she was done, and she sat up, leaning against the tree as she panted and groaned softly with her eyes closed, and a pained expression on her face.

As the sounds faded away, Rex then realized he hadn't actually done anything with his communicator other than stare at it. 

He glanced over his shoulder at Lucy on the ground, guilt clawing at his chest. 

Without thinking, he stood up and walked slowly over to her. He only realized what he was doing once he stood at her side. He hesitated for a few moments, unsure of what he wanted to do now that he was there... But eventually, he crouched beside her, gently resting a hand of comfort on her shoulder.

Opening her eyes, she turned to him, and gave him a small, tired smile. "Thanks Rex... Guess I didn't have enough drink in me for an iron stomach huh?" She said, trying for a slight chuckle, but that just made her cough as it justled her aggravated throat.

"Hey, woah." Rex gently pat her back, frowning with worry. "Take it easy. Will water help at all? Can you do water?"

She shook her head and sighed, rubbing her mouth clean with the back of her hand. "Nah, not really... But I'll be fine now, I'm sure. Just need a minute or two."

His eyes scanned Lucy for a moment taking in how tired and pained she still seemed to be. Then he nodded. "All right. Okay. Let's get you seated again."

"Good idea." She said, as she once again held out her hand to him, asking for his help with a smile.

Without hesitation, Rex took her hand, pulling her to her feet.

She let out a huff as she got to her feet, keeping hold of his hand for a moment as she wobbled slightly.

"Sorry. Seems I'm a bit light headed."

"It's all right. You've been through a lot in the past twelve hours." He didn't move his hand away from hers, letting her keep herself steady.

"So have you Rex." She chuckled softly. "But at least now we now know that you won't starve. There's plenty of yunky fruit around for you."

Rex snorted, giving a slight smile that was nowhere near his eyes. "Yeah, at least we don't need to worry about that..."

Lucy shot him a smile back, but hers  _ did _ reach her eyes, and would have even made wrinkles besides them if she didn't have an eternally youthful complexion.

"Yeah. And at least I won't have to taste test any more of it! I mean I'd take bitter fruit over blood any day if I could. But alas, it's unfortunately the price of immortality. Everything yummy you wanna eat tastes like ash."

"Huh! Don't envy ya there." His fake smile soon fell, and he looked over at the place he'd set down his communicator, thinking as he led her along.

Damn it. If only they'd found  _ one _ intact box of provisions...

Already the back of his neck was starting to prickle uneasily. How long until her now-empty stomach made her want to take action...?

"... Here, take a seat. Get some rest." He scooped his communicator from the spot he'd been using as a chair, moving to sit on the ground.

She sat down as she was offered, but her trying to be chipper attitude faltered as she heard the unease in his voice.

What was he worried about? Her? Probably not... He didn't exactly like her after all.

"Rex... Is something bothering you...?"

"... Don't worry about it. Seeing people vomit makes me uncomfortable, that's all." That was a lie. But there's no way she'd know that.

There was something off about that answer...

Her Rex wasn't particularly phased by vomiting. He didn't like it, no, but the few times she'd gotten drunk he'd been okay enough with it to hold her hair back and comfort her. But of course,  _ this _ Rex was a different person entirely. So maybe he was more bothered by it?

"Well sorry for throwing up then. I tried to hold it back, but these things happen... But, is there anything else bothering you...??"

"I know you tried to hold it back, and that's fine, it's not something you could stop!" He shot back, tone slightly sharp. "I'm grateful for what you did, okay? I'm sorry I'm on edge! But I can't help that, any more than you can help it when your body freaks out over solid food!"

He was overly defensive. Which meant that he either was hiding something, or he wasn't and was annoyed at being asked. Hard to tell with him sometimes...

"It's okay! And you know, if there is something...? You can tell me. I want you to be as comfortable as you can in this situation we're stuck in."

Rex nodded slightly. "Don't worry about it."

He turned back to his communicator, trying once again to carefully remove the back without a screwdriver.

She was about to say something else to him, but the words died as a quiet noise in her throat.

He just kept shutting her out. Just like her own Rex had at the start… It hurt her more than she wanted to let on. It was like she was being forced to start from square one all over again, and well, technically she was.

What  _ was _ it that was bothering him? What had brought it on this time??

Food? Her throwing up?? What could--

...

Oh. Right. How could she have been so stupid??

"... It's about our 'food' situation, isn't it?"

He froze in his movements, clutching his communicator as he tried to pry it apart.

"... What of it," he said flatly.

She thought for a brief moment, then looked at him with a sincere, and determined expression.

"You're worried about, well, you. But I want to tell you now, that you don't have to be. I won't bite you. I won't drink from you. Not at all. Not if you don't want me to."

Rex glanced over at her, then away again, chewing on his cheek nervously. "... Sure. We'll be rescued soon, anyway. Soon as I get this baby up and running."

With a deep frown, she looked away from him, not able to meet his eye. "I have every faith in you Rex. You'll get this done quick. And I can go without drinking for however long it takes. No problem."

"... Yeah."

He didn't know what to tell her. Yeah, he didn't want her fangs anywhere near him. But she was right, they wouldn't be here long enough that would be a problem, he'd make sure of it.

He cursed softly under his breath as he went back to work with renewed energy. Why did he build these things so sturdy...???

She watched him for a moment, sadness etched into her face as he once again shrugged her off. Even though he was working on their escape, practically everything about the way he acted around her rubbed her the wrong way.

So, she laid down on her makeshift seat, and turned away from him, curling up on herself as she rode out how crappy her stomach still felt...

"Ah, bingo," Rex muttered to himself, grinning. He'd finally gotten it off!

Just had to caaaarefully push things back in place, without his tools... No biggie. He'd worked in worse conditions.

And so, Rex bent over his communicator, lost in his work... relieved to finally be able shut out everything else.

Lucy lay there, starting ahead at nothing, trying to let her mind wander and ignore her body for a while.

How long could she keep up this lie? Would they really be rescued before there was any trouble...? For some reason her pragmatic mind couldn't do anything but think of a worst case scenario...

She'd keep her word. That, she knew. She'd never drink from this Rex without permission, and she had a disturbing feeling that she was never going to get it. It took a long while for her Rex to warm up to her again, surely this Rex was going to be no different. Yes, these were dire circumstances, but still. She knew he'd still hate her the whole time they were on this planet. She was sure nothing could change that. Which meant there was not going to be any blood for her. There weren't enough animals-- hell there weren't any animals! Rex was her only source of food, but she couldn't use him.

If they didn't get rescued in a week or two, she was going to be tortured by a potential meal right at the tips of her fingers until she'd be too weak to even lift an arm, and then she'd die.

Fade to a pile of dust on some unknown planet in an unfriendly universe, without her Special even knowing. He'd lose her all over again, and she'd have already seen him for the last time...

That idea broke her heart, made tears form in the corners of her eyes as she shut them tight. Very quietly, she muttered to herself in a desperate tone: "Please Rex... Please come save me baby..."


	5. Bitter Apples Part 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Warnings for this chapter!

Rex wandered aimlessly in a circle, scowling deeply, his arm held over his head. 

"C'mon you fuckin piece of junk...! Get a damn signal!!"

There was no way he had fixed it wrong...! He'd spent all night making sure to get it right!! He'd whittled fuckin _tweezers_ out of **_sticks!!!_ **

"Maybe we need to be up higher?" Lucy suggested from her spot seated against the base of a tree trunk. She wasn't really paying any attention to what he was doing, but even so, her eyes followed his every movement intently. He was strangely captivating. Although Lucy, half zoned out, couldn't quite put her finger on why...

"Mm, worth a try." Rex nodded, then hurried over to a tree with a low enough branch. He leapt up and grabbed hold of the branch, hoisting his torso up effortlessly, before swinging his leg up as well. It wasn't long until he was clambering through the branches, eyes locked on his wrist the whole time.

Lucy kept watching him intently, being able to acutely sense where he was even without seeing him directly. "Be careful up there. Don't want you falling!"

"I'm not gonna fall!" Rex shouted down to her. "Just gotta stay close to the trunk! Easy!"

He growled with frustration when he reached the top where all the thorns were, his communicator still reporting 'no signal.' He even went so far as to stick his hand up into the vines, reaching upwards, desperately, towards space, and their boys.

... Nothing.

"... I'm guessing as you aren't saying anything, you're not having any luck?" She asked, as diplomatically as she could, as unbeknownst to her, her vision slowly started to have all the colour sapped out of it, aside from a single spot up in the tree...

"... No," Rex said, in a voice so soft, only someone with superhuman hearing would have been able to hear.

He sat down on the branch he was atop, giving a heavy sigh.

"We must be down too low. The cavern is too deep..."

Lucy stared up at the bright red, human shaped blob up in the tree, surrounded by nothing but a dull black and white background. She was transfixed by him, unable to move her gaze.

"We could look around? Find somewhere higher...?"

"These vines don't seem to go any higher, you've looked just as much as I have."

Rex bent over, burying his face in his hands.

"... This is pointless..."

After a moment, he spoke again. "If we wanna get out and get a message to them, we gotta find a way around these vines."

Lucy frowned as she watched the bright red shape move above her and listened to him.

"Around...? Red-- uh, really?? We need to find the edge of them?"

"The edge, or a hole... something. We can't do anything with them in the way."

After a few more seconds sitting up there, Rex sat up and slowly began lowering himself down the tree.

Her eyes didn't move from him for even a second, fixed on him in an almost predatory way.

"No... 'S not... Workin'..." She almost slurred, almost utterly distracted.

Rex dropped to the ground, and shot her an irritated look. "Could you stop mumbling? I can't understand a word you're saying."

She didn't respond.

Instead, she stood up slowly, methodically, in an unnatural way as her glowing red eyes stayed locked onto him.

He was almost glowing to her by now. Pulsating with energy, with warmth, with life. Truly captivating…

Rex was slightly taken aback at first, but then stormed directly over to her, snapping his fingers in her face.

"Hey! Whatever-this-planet is to Wyldstyle!! Anyone home???"

She jumped back from him and raised an arm defensively, yelping in surprise as the world came back into focus and colour, but the bright red aura around Rex remained. "W-What?! What?!!" She cried, almost fearfully.

"I was about to ask the same thing of you!! What the hell was that about? You hit your head or something??" He huffed, putting his hands on his hips.

"N-No...!" She stuttered, as she took a few steps back from him and closed her eyes tight as she looked down at the ground instead. "It was nothing. Really!!" She protested, but her stomach rumbled and betrayed her.

The sound made his body go cold.

Rex took a step back, movements stiff and uneasy. He stared at her silently for a moment, then turned away, brows knitting. "... We should... get to work searching, then..."

Damn, she felt so guilty... She couldn't help how her body reacted, but she still did.

"I-I'm so sorry! I just zoned out! I-I didn't mean-!"

"Don't worry about it." He waved a hand through the air, dismissing the conversation. "We got more important things to do, we gotta find a way past these weeds. The sooner we get out, the sooner you can get food in ya."

She took a risk and looked up at him, breathing out a slight sigh of relief as he looked all normal and in colour again. "Y-Yeah, okay... Let's move."

Rex heard her sound of relief and met her gaze, his body relaxing as he saw she was more at ease again. He even gave her a relieved half-smile, for a second.

Then, without a word, he had turned and marched off towards the river.

She watched him go, then started to follow behind him, keeping her distance as she stared at the ground and rubbed her arm nervously.

That zoning out had been far too close for her liking...


	6. Bitter Apples Part 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Warnings for this chapter!

He wasn't sure how long he had been working.

Chip, chip, chipping away at the walls with a rock, widening a crack that was barely more than three feet wide. He had wanted to just Master Break it wide open, but, Lucy was right, that was suicide. One punch and the entire thing could crumble, either crushing them both, or causing the crack to be filled with rubble, sealing it for good. 

It was infuriating, and exhausting, but... even the illusion of progress was enough for him. There had to be something past this crack in the wall... there HAD to be!!! It was all they had right now!!

Lucy looked up at him, then at the thorny prison above them, frowning sadly. But no, she couldn't let bad thoughts get her down, not right now. Maybe she could act instead?

"Rex why don't you take a break? I could take over hacking at that for a while?"

Rex shook his head. She needed to conserve her energy. The harder she worked, the more energy her body would use, and...

"N... nah. I... I got this...!"

He started kicking at the rock with his steel-toed boot as he continued hitting with the rock, growling with his teeth gritted. He could do this all day...!! Not like he had anything else to do, anyway.

She sighed and shook her head, deciding to just watch him from her spot just outside of his slashing radius beside him.

"Alright. Just keep being careful. You don't want your temper to make you reckless. You have a bad habit of that!"

Rex grunted in response, focused locked on his task. It felt good to be doing something again. Once his communicator had been fixed, but proven useless, he'd been wandering, lost. Literally, actually.

"I got this, don't--  **_f-fuck--!!"_ **

Rex's foot managed to break through, the rock crumbling away. However, this threw him off balance, his foot plunging forward, and he slammed into the wall. The side of his head and upper torso collided with the rock, his leg swallowed by the crevice. Lucy leapt to his aid, darting to stand right behind him, her hands holding onto his biceps to keep him upright and steady.

_ "Rex! _ Are you alright?? Should I pull you out?!"

Rex pushed himself away from the wall with one hand, wincing as he rubbed his cheek with the other.

"D-damn it... D-don't pull yet, m-my leg--"

Rex braced himself against the wall, moving his leg slowly within the crack. He hissed sharply, squeezing his eyes shut. "O-okay, slowly--"

"Alright..." She said softly, as she moved her arms under his and around his chest to get a better hold of him, before she gently and very slowly started pulling him back.

_ "Gh--!!" _ Rex gave a slightly strangled noise, body lurching forward as he tensed in pain.

But, slowly and surely, Lucy managed to move backwards with him, while he carefully maneuvered his leg around whatever obstacles were keeping him from pulling it straight out.

... There was a slightly metallic smell in the air now...

Lucy's movements juddered slightly, before she fully stopped when Rex was totally out of the rocks.

Immediately her eyes darted down to Rex's leg, and her vision tunneled onto a ripped bit of fabric in his trousers, torn, with an open cut on his leg that was bleeding...

Slowly her grip on him turned vice like, as the sweet metallic scent and bright red, almost glowing sight called to her.

If Rex had been saying anything to her, she couldn't hear it, not with how entranced she was. Her mind screamed at her to take this, to use this!! There was blood, right there! In the open!! Going to  **waste** as it waited for her!  _ So why was she holding back?! _

There it was, a little voice in the back of her mind that told her to keep resisting, but she couldn't, not entirely.

So in an instant, she let go of Rex, jumped over his torso as he fell, and yanked his leg upright in the air, holding it impossibly tight in her grasp as she hissed harshly. She wasted no time in bringing the wound to her mouth, fangs briefly poised to bite, eyes glowing red and wild-- but there was the smallest of pauses, then she jerked her head forward, but once again stopped, longer this time, and let out a pained whimper, as if she was fighting with herself. And in the end, one side won out. So instead of tearing into him and draining him right then and there, she locked her lips around his cut and started to lick.

Rex hit the ground hard, dazed from his head making contact with the dirt. It didn't take long for him to realize what was happening, however, dazed or not. As Lucy hoisted his leg into the air, he started violently, trying to pull his leg away. 

"F-fuck--! FUCK!!! **H-HEY!!!!** _LUCY!!!_ **_LUCY, N-NO!!!!!!"_**

But it was too late. He felt her mouth on his leg, and went rigid with fear.

What the fuck could he do against a vampire in a feeding frenzy?? She'd probably rip his fucking leg off!!

With a quiet whimper, Rex squeezed his eyes shut.

This was what he got for denying her food for so long. Now he was paying the ultimate price for it.

Lucy looked like she couldn't control herself, as she hissed and growled and held him tight, but in reality a large part of her was actually holding herself back.

She licked up every spec of blood she could, even sucking some of it out of his open wound for a moment, but again, she stopped herself. Instead she kept on licking feverishly, not letting any of it go to waste, whilst her vampiric saliva started to inevertantly heal him.

Rex didn't move, too frightened of what she would do to him if he did.

... But he didn't feel his life force draining away.

She was... licking him. Didn't vampires  _ suck _ blood? Wasn't that a whole thing,  _ 'I vant to suuk your bluuuuud'? _

Rex's confidence returned with this realization, and found the courage to move, pushing her with his other leg. "H-hey...! Hey, get off of me!!"

She instantly smacked it away harshly, and turned to Rex, hissing at him fiercely and holding his leg painfully tighter as she defended her food. But as she did, it showed his leg was practically devoid of blood, and the cut on it was nearly completely healed over.

Rex flinched as Lucy turned to look at him, his terror instantly locking him up again. His eyes flicked over to his leg, noting the lack of blood, and that the pain had since receded... she was healing him.

So he squeezed his eyes shut, silently praying that she'd come to herself once the cut closed, and not get frustrated and bite him.

At seeing him go still again, Lucy once more pressed her mouth to his leg, lapping up what blood was left in and around his wound.

Though she quickly found that there was nothing left, and whipped her head away when she couldn't taste any more of that sweet sustenance. Her eyes darted over his leg, spanning it for even a single drop, but she'd licked it clean.

In her frustration, she pushed his leg away, snarling at it as if it offended her greatly, which it did.

She turned away from it sharply, and as her senses slowly returned to her, she grabbed and pulled at her hair, and yelled wordlessly in anger.

Rex pushed himself away across the ground the moment that she let go of him, wanting to get as far as possible as quickly as possible. His back made contact with a tree, and he pushed himself up to lean against it. He was breathing heavily, one arm raised as if to fend off a blow, eyes locked on Lucy as she yelled. He had no idea what was going on with her, who she even was-- his tolerable companion, or a crazed, starved vampire??

At that moment, she, frankly, terrified him.

She turned sharply, eyes tracking his movements as she still held her head in her hands. But the wild look and bright glow in her eyes faded as she watched him, and realisation visibly dawned in her. She gasped, a look of horror overtaking her as she glanced away and lowered her hands.

She was quiet for a moment, as her face screwed up, and tears started to gather in her eyes. She let out a small sob, which was quickly followed by another, then another, until she was crying openly, and hugged herself as she leant hunched over.

... Okay. Not the crazy, starved vampire, then.

Rex's defenses collapsed as Lucy burst into tears, his fear slowly fading.

At least she was back to herself, now, but... Ah, geez. Of course she would feel like shit after that. Losing control was probably just as scary for her as it had been for... someone else who had come face-to-face with her like that. Maybe Rover. Whatever.

"... Lucy..." Rex said softly, sitting up straight. "Lucy, I'm okay."

She threw a glance his way, but wrenched it away just as quickly, and started sobbing into one of her hands.

"I-I just!! I--!  _ Fuck!!!" _

Rex got to his feet, noting with relief it was easy and painless to do.

He slowly walked back over to her, crouching beside her once he reached her side. He leaned over, trying to catch her gaze. "I know. Yeah, that kinda sucked. But we're both okay, yeah? I'm fine, you actually healed me. That's a good thing, right?"

God damn it. He wasn't good at this comforting thing, and yet, once again he was having to do it. 

She sniffed hard, curling in on herself more. "N-No! I-It's not! I didn't think! I didn't ask! I just--! I lost control!" She sobbed, before burying her head into her arms again.

"Bullshit." Rex shook his head. "If you had really lost control, I wouldn't be talking to you right now, and you know it."

Rex thought for a moment, then draped an arm over her back, pulling her to his side in a gentle squeeze. Anything to make her stop crying. He  _ hated _ crying, never knew what to do about it. 

"You have better control over yourself than you think, clearly. You didn't kill me, hell, you didn't hurt me at all. You took... whatever that was..... and you fixed me up. You were still in control whether you really realized it or not. You're stronger than you think."

Really, he was saying that for his own benefit as well. Reassuring himself that he didn't need to be scared. … Not that he was.

She didn't move out of his hold, but she didn't immediately return his embrace either, too scared to do either. And secretly, she didn't want to leave his comforting hug anyway. Not when it was the first major bit of nice contact he'd given her this whole time. So, subtly, she leant into him.

"I st-still should have controlled myself m-more! I saw the blood and j-just, went for it! Y-You don't know how  _ lucky  _ you are! That can't h-happen again Rex! Even i-if it did heal you!"

He had an inner war in his mind for a moment.

... If he didn't comfort her now, it would come back to bite him in the butt later. If he tried to get up and leave, she probably wouldn't forgive him, and their seclusion would be  _ unbearable. _ Like it or not she was all he had right now.

… And besides. He wanted to help. He wanted her to feel better.

So, with a sigh, he sat down on the ground beside her, pulling her close enough to wrap his other arm around her.

"Yeah. Okay. It was bad that it happened. But it happened, and now there's nothing we can do but move on from it. Right now, I'm okay, and you're okay. And we won't let that happen again."

She turned and hugged him right away, burying her face into his chest as she kept on crying, but at least him being so close, and hearing his soothing heartbeat comforted her.

"H-How do you know something like this isn't gonna happen again...?? I-I don't wanna hurt you Rex!  _ I can't!! _ I c-can't lose you!"

Rex took a deep breath, forcing down whatever emotions had dared reared their ugly heads at those words.

"... Again with this 'losing me' stuff... That ain't gonna happen, princess. So long as we're here you're stuck with me, and no amount of sobbing about losing me is gonna change that."

It was hard to keep his huffy tone when comforting someone but he was pretty sure he was succeeding.

She held him tighter, nuzzling into his chest as her crying started to die down.

"M... Maybe? I-I just... I hate that I'm a danger to you at all... I don't care that you're not mine. I just want you to be safe!"

Rex ruffled her hair, sighing. Yeah... She was just  _ Like That _ wasn't she. Kind to him to make up for her counterpart's mistakes. Though it did annoy him at times, he couldn't honestly say he resented her for that. 

"I'll be fine. We just gotta focus on doing what we can to get out of here."

He tilted his head to look down at her. "Why don't you go rest? You've had enough stress for today. And I won't be kicking any more walls anytime soon."

Tentatively, she looked up at him, her eyes and face red and puffy from all her tears. But she closed them and pressed her cheek to his chest as she gave him another squeeze. Part of her wanted to get away from him to keep him safe, but the other part didn't want to let him go, so he could keep on comforting her, and so she could keep him safe. Which, as she thought about it, was ironic, given that it was herself that she wanted to keep him safe from.

Rex started at her renewed hug, looking down at her colorful hair in surprise. But then he gave a tired sigh that hid the amusement in his expression, wrapping his arms around her more securely. 

"... Okay. Just relax. You're okay."

"So are you..." She mumbled into his chest, as her body relaxed more in his hold. She liked feeling his strong protective arms around her, reminding her how tough he could be, and how, at least right now, he was alright.

"Yeah, Lucy, I'm okay too," he said, and this time his voice betrayed him as he chuckled. "We're both okay. So you don't need to cry anymore, yeah? I suck when it comes to people crying and you know it."

She nuzzled him again, her tears stopping, and she even turned to smile up at him as she rubbed a hand over his back fondly. 

"Yeah... But you're doing a pretty good job of it actually."

Rex raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore how pleasant that gentle contact was as he gave her a half smile in return. "Well, that was all just to get you to stop crying, so, I'd say my point still stands."

... This was almost... nice.

She chuckled softly, giving him another affectionate squeeze. "Well, I've stopped haven't I? I'd say you're more successful at it than you think."

"Nah, you're just like Rem. Neither of you can stay sad for long if someone gives you a hug. I essentially got a cheat code." Rex chuckled, patting her back, attempting to signal that she could let go now.

"Well... I guess that's true.~" She said, giving him one last squeeze as she slowly started to sit up.

Rex politely scooted away once she let go, the closeness a little uncomfortable now that there was no need to comfort her.

"... So! You go rest. I'll work at this some more."

She awkwardly retreated, but still smiled at him a little as she rubbed the back of her neck. She already missed his comfort and warmth.

"Right. I guess I could try to rest..."

Rex nodded. "Save your strength, you'll need it when we're climbing out of here."

He grinned at her in a way he hoped was reassuring, before standing back up.

The way she stared up at him seemed almost akin to a lost sad puppy, but even so, she still tried to keep a smile on her face.

"Right. You're the young, energetic one after all. Got all that fruit to fuel you up!" She chuckled, trying lamely for a joke.

"Oh yeah, I'm in peak physical condition! Never been better," Rex agreed, snorting. "But you, clearly, are  _ not. _ It's chill time for you WyldStyle." 

Without hesitation, he held out a hand to help her up, meeting her gaze with that comforting expression still on his face.

She took it gladly, smiling back at him more genuinely as she stood with his help. "I don't think I'll argue with you this time... As long as you take it somewhat easier than you were?"

Once Lucy was on her feet, Rex nodded sheepishly. "Yeah... like 'said, no more foot action. Just the rock. I'll be safer."

"Good." She said, giving his hand one last squeeze to emphasize her point before letting go. "Cause I think we'd both be happier and a lot less embarrassed if I didn't have to lick and heal you again.~" She teased lightly.

Rex crossed his arms, ignoring the heat in his cheeks. "Yeah, agreed... I'd like to keep the licking to a minimum."

Lucy chuckled at him and rested her hands on her hips casually. "Only do that for emergencies then, yeah?~"

Rex's eyes narrowed slightly. "As if I'd ever let you lick me when it's not an emergency...! Dumbass," he scoffed, moving to grab his rock off of the ground.

Lucy had a teasing flirty remark on the tip of her tongue, but decided to hold it back for Rex's sake.

"Exactly." She said with a shrug, as she made a couple steps towards the trees. "Licking is only to be reserved for healing if you, I don't know, accidentally stab yourself or something. Which you won't because if you did, I'd be very mad about it!"

"Right, because I'm  _ sooo  _ scared of making you mad at me!" he shot back, grinning. He was liking this kind of banter.

"But don't worry, accidentally stabbing myself isn't on my list of things to get done. I got a crack to widen!"

He snorted at that.

She giggled, looking between Rex and the rock wall. "Well, you already have a very nice crack.~ But I'll let you get back to it!"

"Why thank you, I take good care of my crack!" He said, before swinging a stone at the wall and chipping more away.

"You rest well!"

"Will do Rex." She walked slowly away, a slight smile on her face as she sat down by the tree, then laid on her side, lazily watching Rex as he worked at the wall.

She wondered how much this would end up helping. Would escape really be on the other side...?


	7. Bitter Apples Part 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings for this one! :3

"... So I go into the storage room and walk in on Rocket, sitting on top of the prototype Rexcursion ship, pretending to fly it with Ripley's hatchlings on his lap." Rex laughed, narrowly avoiding choking on his bite of 'apple.' "When he saw me, he pretended to shoot me... The Rexcursion won't have any guns, but the babies seemed to appreciate it when I fell over dead. So. Inaccuracies be damned."

Lucy chuckled from her spot sat next to him, as the two leant against the thick trunk of a large tree.

She smiled at him with almost half lidded, tired eyes, as she rested a deathly pale cheek in her hand.

"That's adorable! You sound like you're pretty good with the raptor kids?"

"Well, we all are, I'd say. We've been raising them for a while now." Rex shrugged, but looked pleased.

"All they want is someone that will play with them."

Lucy tilted her head, giving Rex a cheerful fanged grin. "True. From what I can tell, my Rex's raptors are similar to yours in that respect at least. And yours seem just as cute.~ Though I do like that these don't singe your clothes!"

Rex laughed again, grinned broadly at her. "Yeah, I almost forgot!! Your raptors are dragony, aren't they?"

He nudged her with his shoulder, raising his eyebrows. "So, like, _are_ they dragons??"

She sat up a little straighter, looked more alert at his nudge, not even realising she'd slumped down or been in any kind of tired daze. But she did her best to keep as perky as she wanted to feel. But it was hard. She was so tired... Her stomach ached so much... But she couldn't let Rex know. After what happened the last time she got near his blood, she didn't want to risk a repeat, or _worse._ So she had to just keep waiting it out. They'd be out of here soon. She could sink her teeth safely into as many blood bags as she wanted then...

"Well, yes and no? Dragons come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and they share a number of similarities. We still call them raptors. And to us, they're like an ancient sub species of dragon, now extinct like many dinosaurs. Dragons managed to survive pre-history by adapting and re-evolving into new subspecies. But unfortunately raptors didn't. My Rex-- what was that nickname you gave him again?? -Rover! So, yeah, Rover went back in time and saved a load, brought them to the modern day! And they can breathe fire, have some different colours to yours, some spikes and spines on some of them, and some have wings."

Rex seemed oblivious to her shaking herself awake. The nudge had, actually... been a friendly one. Shockingly.

After Lucy finished her explanation, Rex nodded, rubbing his chin, the slightly-longer-than-usual stubble rasping.

"Makes sense. Just like how raptors are descendants of our birds, your raptors are descendants of your dragons! Wonder why Rover chose those specific kinda raptors... And you say only some have wings?"

Rex sighed wistfully, stretching out slightly. "Man, I can't wait 'til we figure out a link between our timeline and yours. I'd love to see those bad boys firsthand."

Lucy giggled as she raised her knees up and crossed her arms over them, shooting Rex a beaming smile as she tried to forget the sleepiness in her eyes.

"Oh you definitely will! Rover is probably gonna show off each and every one of them to ya! He'll definitely take you out on a flight on them as well. I could even fly by you as you do! Try to race you through the skies, eh?" She said with a confident grin, though a small part in the back of her mind couldn't help but add if _I'm still around by then._

"A race! You are so on, Batty," he poked her arm gently. "Though you're gonna need a handicap! Those raptors will be carrying us, you'll be tiny and holding nothing!... Hm, maybe we could have you carry a tennis ball or something."

He chuckled at the mental image, then took another bite of his apple, chewing and swallowing quickly to keep the taste out of his mouth for long.

Lucy snorted and shook her head. "I could carry something heavier than that to make it fair! ... And I bet I could probably still beat you.~" She taunted, giving him a confident smirk.

"You can't top the bond between a raptor and their trainer," Rex shot back, raising his eyebrows. "The raptor might not know me as well, so I understand losing... But I bet Rover could beat ya."

He settled down against the trunk more comfortably, giving a tired huff. He was making good progress on that crack in the wall, so despite how royally fucked his fingers were from blisters and scrapes, it was easy to put that out of mind and enjoy this down time.

Lucy looked up wistfully at the vines, a smile in her face, imagining the stars that were somewhere up above them, and her Rex being up there among them, looking for her.

"Yeah, he probably could. But no matter who would win, it'd be fun. I wish I could see the look on his face. That happy, beaming, beardy smile he does when he wins, or is just having a good time with friends..."

She loved that happy face of his. So, so much. She wanted more than anything to be able to see it again.

Rex nodded slightly, sighing as he shared in her wistful daydreaming.

His Squad, Rem and Rocket... Their banter, play fights, adventures... how he could be himself with them. How happy he was around them...

"Yeah. They are pretty great, aren't they?" Rex muttered, setting the half-eaten apple down and clasping his hands in his lap. "Every day we get one step closer to seeing them again though."

Lucy shivered briefly, a chill running through her body randomly. But the worrying thing was, the cold stayed, and she knew exactly why. This was _not_ good...

"Y-Yeah. You're doing a great job working to get to them Rex." She said, turning her head away to the ground as she wrapped her arms around herself tighter to get a bit of warmth.

Rex saw her curl up tighter, and instinctively moved slightly closer, for comfort. Wouldn't do to have his sole companion shutting down on him from sadness or anything.

"Yeah. Just a bit longer, Lucy, just you wait. We're gonna be okay."

Lucy absentmindedly rubbed her arms, trying to get more warmth into them as the chill of her body running on empty finally set in. She turned and gave Rex a smile, staring at his rugged face, that very short beard that was forming, the way he looked at her, so much warmer than before, and the ambient heat she could feel coming off of him.

"Of course. I don't have any doubts you're gonna get out of this soon Rex. You're tough. You're a fighter. Nothing is gonna stop you getting out of here."

"Fuck yeah! Ain't no walls can contain a Dangervest for long!!" 

He scratched his chin again as he thought. Damn stubble. "Can't speak for you, you tend to always just go with the flow of things, so... I'll strap you to my back and carry you outta here with me if I gotta! Baby bjorn style!!" He laughed at that mental image, jostling her again with his shoulder.

She giggled, using it to conveniently hide a shiver. "Y-Yeah, I'm sure that could work. Especially if I was in bat form. Probably a lot easier to carry like that."

D'awww... Little bat Lucy in a carrier. That was _real_ cute.

"Sounds like a plan, then!"

"Definitely." She said, giving him a smile, but it was interrupted as she shivered violently and grimaced as her chill reared its head again. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to keep it together as the cold in her body combined with a sharp pang of hunger.

Rex's smile faded as he looked at her. She was getting hungry. It was starting to show.

Rex suppressed a shudder of discomfort.

It was fine. He was going to get them out of here soon. Then she could eat and it'd be fine. Everything would be okay.

After a moment of hesitation, he stood up. "I'm gonna start a fire, okay?"

He pulled off his vest, then dropped it over her shoulders, like a shawl. "Hold onto this for me."

_Use it as a blanket, it's been soaking up my body heat._

She looked up at him, then down at his vest in surprise, her eyes wide, before her expression softened, and she gave him a genuine smile. "Thank you." She said, her voice soft and loving, as she moved the vest around to cover her chest and crossed arms, keeping in all the wonderfully warm heat from it she could.

"What for? I wanna see if I can cook these apples to make 'em taste better, and I'm making you hold my clothes. That's a dumb thing to thank me for." But his expression was soft as he looked down at her.

Then he turned away, waving slightly, eyes locked on the ground to look for tinder.

Her smile stayed as she watched him move. She wasn't predatory as she stared at him, just fond. But then she closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath and the strong scent of Rex lingering heavily on his vest. It was comforting. It was him. She'd never get tired of it, she realised. It was so unique to him.

Rex however, paid Lucy no mind as he went about his task.

No watchful glances over his shoulder, no tense movements when he felt her gaze... just gathering sticks for a fire for him and his companion. 

When he had a suitable amount of tinder, he walked back to Lucy, strategically creating the makeshift fire pit closer to where she was sitting rather than where he would be. When he had a suitable pile, he pulled a dented lighter out of his vest pocket and got to work, crouching across the soon-to-be fire from Lucy. It was rather cute to see him so focused on something, the way his face scrunched up, how he bit his lip when his eyes were locked in something... even the way he cursed softly under his breath was endearing. More little parts of him. Things Lucy was starting to notice them more and more as he let his guard down, though she wasn't too sure what to make of it yet.

She knew he wasn't her Rex. He couldn't be, they were so different... Especially with how cold Rex had been with her at first. She could never mistake her sweet puppy for this guy.

But then again, she was starting to see another side of him now. And whether she wanted to or not... she couldn't help but feel a fondness for him, too.

She was startled to realize that Rex had stood up. She'd been so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even realize he had gotten a flame going. It was still too small to give any real warmth, but, it was a start.

Lucy watched Rex as he walked around the ring of stones, moving towards her. She half expected him to grab the apple he was planning on cooking and move away again, but... He sat beside her with a tired grunt, stretching out his back.

"Hand me that stick?" he asked her, gesturing to her other side.

She turned, eyes peering through a black and white world, and she picked up a stick beside her, handing it to Rex with a smile.

"Here you go." She said, beaming at him with a warmth her freezing body couldn't reflect. His hand brushed against hers as he grabbed the stick, his warm hand meeting skin that felt like ice for a brief moment before he pulled away. Rex felt a tingle go up his spine at her brief touch, that _clearly_ only had to do with how cold she was. She was practically frozen after all.

"Thanks," he grunted as he took the stick, before turning to stoke the fire with it. "It'll still be a bit before I can cook with this."

She moved her hand back under the warm vest she was using as a makeshift blanket, snuggling into it and herself as she waited for the fire to burn big enough to thaw some of her frozen body.

"Alright Rex."

They sat there in silence for a bit, the crackling flames the only sound between them. And gradually they grew, under Rex's careful tending, the fire lapping up the sticks, and then the thicker branches he stacked over them. It wasn't long before it gave off a real heat.

Rex grinned proudly at the flames, then over at Lucy. "That better?"

She had had her eyes closed, just taking in the ambient warmth from the flames, enjoying a bit of respite from the bitter cold of her body. She turned to him, giving him the best smile she could muster, but just like her, it was weak.

"Yeah, definitely. Should be enough for you to cook some apples at least?"

Rex nodded, picking up an apple and the stick he had been using as a poker, getting to work figuring out how to skewer it... a task easier said than done. But it didn't matter it if took a while to figure out how he had to cut into it with his knife and then push the stick through, he wasn't really hungry.

Lucy watched him curiously, then turned her attention to the fire, her gaze occasionally alternating between the two as she slowly zoned out.

The fire helped take some of the edge off, and so did being so close to Rex, but it couldn't solve the problem entirely. Her body was failing. She didn't have any blood left in her to keep her oxygenated, or warm, or give her energy. She was so drained and tired. Everything was so much effort. Moving was hard, staying awake was hard, keeping herself from biting Rex was... Admittedly less hard now. Not because her body didn't want to, it longed to have even a tiny drop of his warm, lively blood, but she'd resisted so long now, it had given up. Her hunger was a dull ache in the back of her mind, always there, always making itself known, but muted now. Eating didn't seem to matter now. Rex would be fine. He had food, he had shelter, he was resourceful. He'd get out of this. And without her around, he'd definitely be safe. It was only a matter of time before he'd truly be safe for good... And she was happy about that. She'd made her peace with it. He was human, he had a wonderful life, and she was glad he'd be able to live it.

Rex, blissfully unaware, gave a happy 'Hm!!' having successfully secured his apple. He settled back against the tree they were leaning against, shoulder brushing against Lucy's, holding the stick and apple over the fire.

His thoughts were fixed on the immediate. He had to cook this apple, so he could eat it, to get more energy. Then, when he had more energy, he could get back to work on the crack, then they'd get through, and once they were through they'd get out of here and everything would be okay. The 'how' after that didn't matter. He had successfully tricked himself into assuming that everything was fine, and would continue to be fine... He was going to be the hero that was going to get them out of there. Any alternative wasn't an option in his mind.

Lucy glanced down at Rex's shoulder touching hers, her lips quirking up into a slight smile as a fuzziness set in her mind.

It was nice being this close to him. He didn't seem to hate her as much now. Maybe he even liked her?

It was a nice thought. She did like him after all. He wasn't as much of an ass as he made himself out to be, not at heart anyway. There was still some sweetness under all that darkness.

She felt her eyes drooping, and she hummed happily at the thought. She liked being next to someone nice. She liked not feeling so alone. Rex wasn't as cold or distant anymore. He was warming up to her, by ironically warming her up.

Rex paid no mind to Lucy, attention locked on his food.

At this point? So long as she didn't try to bite him? He didn't mind what she did. He didn't care that she was this close.

He was helping keep her warm, he was simply helping ensure her survival through physical comfort.

That was all...

They were companions.

After a brief and weak fight with her wills, Lucy closed her eyes, sighing as she thought happily about being able to spend whatever time she had left with Rex, and about how happy he'd be to get back to his ship and everyone he cared about. Even if she wasn't sure she'd be able to do the same, knowing (or at least hoping) that Rex would be alright, that he'd be alive and found and not left to rot in some forgotten corner of the galaxy like he had been before, was enough to give her heart some hope.

She let out a long breath, a smile on her face as her energy drained, and her body relaxed entirely, slumping against the tree, before her head lulled to the side and rested on Rex's shoulder, entirely unbeknownst to her as she slept in a wonderful welcome warmth.

Rex was startled at the sudden gentle weight on his shoulder, but managed not to jump as he glanced over at his now-unconscious fellow castaway.

She was fast asleep, resting on his shoulder, bundled up under his vest, a slight smile on her face... It was, quite honestly, one of the cutest things he had ever seen.

He turned back to the fire, a smile of his own in his face now as he pulled his food from the flames, staring into the warm glow as he let the apple cool.

Yeah... No matter what happened from here, he was gonna make sure it was gonna be okay.


	8. Epitaph Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warning: Self-inflicted wound

"... I mean as far as I'm aware, that should make him even more attractive as a mate. Atreides is probably the smartest raptor on the whole ship. So what if he's not the best fighter? By this point, the raptors definitely don't need to rely on strength alone. Survival of the fittest really isn't a thing anymore. I mean, Quaid and Connor both lost their arms when they were captured by this bloodthirsty gang of aliens--seriously nasty stuff. They were gonna keep them alive while cutting off bits of them to eat. Still gives me the willies just thinking about it--but we got em back and made prosthetics and boom! Back on their feet and raring to go! If a raptor isn't particularly strong in one area, like physical strength, it doesn't really matter does it?"

Rex didn't even seem to notice no one was hearing him speak but himself. He was staring up at what little of space they could see through the thick, thorny branches above, tossing the tiny berries into his mouth absently. He hadn't looked at Lucy since he'd sat. 

Lucy's half lidded eyes were a far deeper shade of red than normal, and they weren't at all focused, instead, just vaguely staring in Rex's direction as she sat against another tree.

She didn't even notice her stomach stabbing at her insides from her desperate hunger. It, like Rex, what he was saying, and the rest of the world around her was dull now. There was no colour in her vision, everything apart from Rex and his bright red, pulsating glow was simply black and white. But despite that, despite how mesmerising Rex had looked up until now, she wasn't going to drink from him. She wasn't going to make him do something he didn't want to do. Not now, or ever.

She was glad that the urge to drink his blood had practically faded when her current haze had set in. It was nice not to fight it. To just feel fuzzy and almost serene. It made her want to drift off.

And soon, without even registering it, she did.

Her eyes fell shut, and she slowly started to slip down the tree trunk as her limp body lost its strength. She wasn't even aware that she'd fallen to the ground, the only indication that she had, being a soft thwump against the grass, where it remained, motionless.

Rex heard a quiet noise from his left, something falling over.

"... I mean, he's..." His thoughts and voice trailed off as he turned towards Lucy again.

She was sprawled out on the ground, having collapsed from her seated position against the tree. She wasn't moving.

Rex felt his body go cold.

He was by her side in an instant, berries scattering as he crouched beside her. He pulled her to his lap, turning her over to look at her face.

She didn't react, face remaining still. He tried patting her cheek.

No response.

He felt fear seizing up his body, throat tightening as his muscles tensed. 

He was going to be alone. She was going to die and it was going to be all his fault and he was going to be all alone.

_ "N-no... No, Lucy--!!" _

He was moving before he even realized what he was doing. His hand gripped the dagger in his belt, and he only seemed aware he was holding it when the faint moonlight reflecting off of its smooth surface glinted in his eye.

He knew what he had to do. There was no hesitation as he drew it over his wrist. The keen blade sunk smoothly and neatly into his exposed skin. He didn't even register any pain, and it was only when he pulled it away and blood began running down his arm that he realized he'd managed to break the skin.

His hands were shaking now. He dropped his dagger unceremoniously onto the ground, and with his newly freed hand, he cupped Lucy's face. He gently pulled her chin down, opening her mouth. 

Trembling, he held his open wound over her opened mouth, letting his blood drip steadily into it.

_ "Lucy, Lucy... d-don't you... don't you die on me..." _ He muttered, terrified gaze scanning her face for any kind of reaction.

He wasn't aware of anything else at the moment, not even the pain in his arm... nor the tears burning in his eyes.

Lucy remained utterly still for several moments that seemed to drag on into eternity.

The blood slowly trickled down her throat, but even so, she didn't react.

Rex had no idea how long he waited, how much his heart pounded, nor how many tears fell. But then there was a movement, it was subtle, but Lucy's lips finally twitched. And all of a sudden, her eyes shot open, and she sucked in a large, desperate gasp of breath. 

Her bright red eyes stared up at nothing, but then they suddenly locked with Rex's as her chest rapidly rose and fell.

She wasn't sure what was going on, where she was, or even quite who that was above her. But in an instant her gaze was on his wrist, and the utterly irresistible blood dripping from it, just inches from her mouth...

Without a word, Rex pressed his arm to her mouth, urging her to feed properly. 

She was awake. She was  _ alive _ .

He had to fight back a sob as relief suddenly flooded through him. His shoulders still shook slightly from the effort of holding back his emotion, though it was really rather pointless to do, seeing as tears still flowed freely down his face.

He just kept his gaze on her face, his own still slightly twisted with fear.

_ You gotta eat, _ he urged silently.  _ I gotta know you'll be okay. _

She paused for a moment, but only a very brief one. Then her confusion was replaced by an overwhelming desire to take in what was being offered to her.

Instantly her lips locked around his arm, and her hands shot up to hold onto it. Though her grip was incredibly weak, almost like a feather of a touch. Her ice cold hands wouldn't have been able to hold him if he even gently pulled away, but thankfully, he didn't.

She hungrily lapped up all the dripping blood from his wrist, not wasting a single drop as she inadvertently healed his cut. Something in her subconscious told her that drinking now would be dangerous.

Once the blood was no longer flowing, she hissed in frustration, needing much more, and didn't even hesitate to sink her fangs into him, close her eyes, and start to drink deeply.

Her mind was a frenzied haze. There were no higher thoughts in that moment, only an overpowering desire to feed, and stop her aching stomach.

Far from being frightened by this display, as any sane person surely would have in this situation, Rex felt another, stronger flood of relief.

She was all right… She was eating, so she had to be alright.

Rex bowed his head and closed his eyes, the adrenaline that had been surging through him finally settling. He didn't move an inch from where he knelt, one hand still resting on her, making no moves to stop her.

She had almost starved to death. She deserved to take as much as she needed.

Lucy hummed low and deep as she drank. Her hands held tighter and tighter onto Rex as her strength returned, and his blood started to run through her veins. Her frozen skin grew warmer, and bit by bit, drop by drop she felt more alive.

She didn't know how much she was drinking, or how much she had taken as her mind and memories grew clearer. She really wanted to carry on a drink all she could, but she soon realised how bad that would be for Rex. So, slowly, and incredibly reluctantly she stopped, and carefully pulled her teeth out of his wrist.

She shook slightly as she moved, her body still in shock as she slowly started licking and healing Rex's wound.

Rex lifted his head slightly as he felt her pull back, eyes flicking over her face. He felt her trembling under his hand, and instinctively moved one hand to rest reassuringly in her hair.

His voice had abandoned him, so he watched in silence, expression softened with relief.

She opened her eyes to look back at him, bright, glowing red meeting pale blue.

Slowly she pulled away entirely, but still held onto his arm, shaking, and trying to ground herself in reality again.

All at once he scooped her up, maneuvering his arm free to wrap around her, pulling her to his chest. He gives a long, shaky exhale, pressing his face into her hair.

"I'm so sorry... I was so scared..." he muttered, holding her tighter. "Don't... Don't you ever scare me like that again."

Her arms instantly wrapped around him, holding him back just as tight, reveling in his warmth, but feeling hot, heavy tears fall down her cheeks.

"I-I'm sorry...! I... I didn't want you to... When you didn't want to..."

_ "Don't you apologize to me...!" _ He quickly broke in, tone sharp. He sat up again, still holding her up, but no longer to his chest. "This... This isn't your fault. This is all my stupid ass not realizing how far you were pushing yourself… Which, by the way, I don't want you  _ ever  _ to do again."

She winced, gritting her blood stained teeth as she held him a little tighter.

"I just- I-I know you don't like me a lot, and I didn't want to drink from you if it repulsed you! I thought we'd be rescued before it got this bad! I didn't want to hurt you! I care about you too much Rex..." She said, sniffing back a sob as her frazzled mind ran away with her.

That definitely surprised him. Hearing her be so frank.  _ 'I care about you too much...' _

Rex shook his head, hastily scrubbing his tears from his cheeks. "Well, liking you or not, I'm not about to sit here and watch you die! That was the scariest shit I've seen in a good long while, and we both know I've seen some shit!!"

_ 'Well,' _ a shrewd little voice said in his brain,  _ 'you wouldn't have been so scared if you didn't care,' _ which he promptly ignored.

"Just... I don't want it ever to get this bad again, okay?"

She turned away from him, unable to keep his gaze, even going so far as to close her eyes. She couldn't bear to see him so upset.

"I can't promise that Rex. I'll drink from you if you let me, but I'm not gonna put your life at risk. I can only drink so much from you before it gets too dangerous for you, and I'm not gonna let it get anywhere near to that! If it came down to me or you..."

She paused, opening her eyes as she stared at Rex's bloody knife.

"I'm choosing you."

Rex scowled.

He caught what she was looking at, and snatched his dagger from the ground, wiping it carelessly on his pants before sheathing it again. "Well, news flash, it's not gonna come down to just one of us, okay? If we're gonna get out of this, we're gonna have much higher chances by working together. Been on a team long enough to know that by now." He gave a humorless 'huh' of laughter at that.

"That means, like it or not, we gotta keep one another alive. And yes, shockingly, 'one another' includes you."

She scowled back up at him, but tears still slowly ran down her cheeks all the same. Those crimson eyes of hers looking fierce with determination.

"Oh come on, look at me! I'm undead weight to you! There's plenty of food around for you to live off, there's no predators, so the only danger you have right now is me! All I am is a drain on you! A... A l-leech! You're strong, and resourceful, and can move around in the day! You're better off without me!"

She scowled up at him a moment longer, before she turned away and muttered:

"...And you've more than proven that in the past."

That hurt Rex more than expected.

Maybe he was still shaken from seeing her dying in his arms, but all of a sudden he felt like shouting at her. How the fuck could she honestly believe he'd be better off  _ alone??? _ By himself, stranded on an alien planet, with no way of contacting anyone that could help, and no way of knowing they even knew where he was???... Much less with nothing but a lifeless body of someone he..... once cared about for company???? A Lucy or not, she was all he had right now! And damn it, he wasn't about to lose her!! 

He reeled in his anger, trying to replace it with dry humor instead.

"And have Rover tear my throat out for letting you die once I get back? I don't think so...!"

He broke eye contact, worried she might have already caught the hurt in his gaze.

She had, of course, but she didn't know quite how to feel about it. Her tears fell a little faster, and she sniffed hard at the thought of her poor Rex being without her... She didn't know what he'd do alone, or just how badly he'd react to her death. She just knew it wouldn't be pretty for anyone involved...

She had to live for him, she had to try and she knew that, but...

Rex here was too much like him. And it was undeniable that she was putting him in danger. She was torn too many ways...

"Y-Yeah, he'd... He'd be furious, and inconsolable, and just-- It wouldn't be good at all. But... Well... I'd be the same if you sticking around with me caused you to get hurt... Or worse..."

Rex managed to recompose himself as she spoke, and turned to face her again, a mask of disapproval covering his emotions again. He crossed his arms, shaking his head.

"What, you really think you're going to be able to kill me? In your state? Nah, this 'free feeding' thing was a one-off thing! From now on we're gonna be careful, neither of us are gonna get hurt here."

He waved a hand dismissively. "I'll make sure you don't drink me dry, and you'll make sure you don't get to the point where you starve to death. Easy."

... The biting really hadn't been that bad. If that's what they needed to do for her to survive, he would be willing to keep doing it.

She frowned up at him incredulously, clasping her hands a little tighter, almost protectively, on his vest.

"Well, we can try, but... The fact of the matter is that, if we're stuck here for a couple more weeks, then I'm gonna need more blood than you can safely give me. Even if I take the bare minimum, less than what I need. What are we gonna do about that?"

Rex frowned, staring off at the canyon wall. That... was going to be a problem. But there had to be a solution here... If he wasn't physically able to make blood faster, how would she be able to take less blood...?

Then it hit him.

He looked down at her, brows shooting up. "What if you were a bat?"

She was taken aback by that, blinking away her tears quickly.

"What? Uh, well... That... could help a bit I suppose... I mean, I can't keep it up all of the time, but, I could try to hold it as much as I can? Might be able to make your blood last longer that way."

Rex nods slightly, then a little faster. "I mean, if you think it'll work, then it probably will...? It won't be forever. Just until we're rescued. Just. Y'know. Improving our chances."

He suddenly seemed to realize how close they were to one another. He cleared his throat, frowning as he turned red, and gently pushed her, hoping to help her sit up straight.

She immediately shuffled back a little, sitting up a little taller as she used her sleeve to wipe her face and look away from him.

"It will, y-yeah. Certainly won't hurt at least..."

Rex nodded, looking down at the ground away from her.

It suddenly seemed like a wall had been put back between them, one he hadn't realized had temporarily fallen. He found himself wishing it was still gone.

"... Well. I'm. I'm glad you're okay."

She glanced at him, before she turned her attention back to wiping her face of blood and tears.

"Thanks... I'm glad you're okay too. I... Was worried once I realised I was drinking from you. You're lucky I was able to stop..."

Rex snorted, shrugging one shoulder, still staring at that same spot on the ground. "I could have stopped you if I wanted to."

She moved away from him a little more, bringing her legs up to her chest as she wrapped her arms around them.

"Maybe at the very start, but not at the end. And you probably couldn't right now. You have to be careful Rex. Starving vampires are dangerous and unpredictable. Even ones like me who have a lot of control..."

"Don't give yourself so much credit." Rex shot her a tentative grin. "I might not be a powerhouse of a puppy like your boyfriend but I could probably still kick your ass if I really tried."

She snorted at that, glancing over at him with a small smile.

"You could certainly try.~"

Rex leaned back, his grin a little more genuinely cocky now, one brow lifted.

"All right, when we get back? You, me, sparring gym. We're gonna settle this once and for all."

She chuckled, waving a hand in his direction as her wobbly smile grew.

"Alright then. I'll start wishing you luck now. Maybe you'll have a bit of a chance.~"

"'A bit'! Well that's some big talk!!" Rex crossed his arms. "Here's what I think, here's my guess--With you doing your weird vampire shit and me being the incredibly skilled Master Breaker that I am--" he paused her to let her laugh-- "it's gonna look evenly matched, and you're gonna let your guard down."

She shook her head, and grinned at him mischievously, showing off her fangs.

"Well, I guess once we're rescued, we'll see if you're right.~"

Rex leaned forward, smirking slightly. "Oh, you are so on."

Yeah... This was better.


	9. Epitaph Part 2

Lucy flapped down from the tree with a small fruit held in her bat feet and hovered in front of Rex, squeaking to get his attention.

Rex gave a slight start, looking up from the stick he was whittling with his dagger.

"Ah, there you are!" He glanced at the fruit she was holding, smiling. "Oh, that looks perfect, thank you." He held out both hands, one to take the fruit, and one for her to land on.

Lucy let go of the fruit and set down on Rex's other hand, holding onto it with her wings and little feet as she happily squeaked at Rex again, almost like saying a  _ "You're welcome." _

He shot her a grateful smile, moving to sit back on the log they'd felled. He rested the hand with Lucy on his leg as he bit into the fruit, managing not to make a face. He couldn't say this was his favorite food, but he'd definitely gotten accustomed to the strange bittersweet taste over time.

"And how are you doing?" he mumbled as he chewed.

Lucy shrugged and made a long chirping squeak, doing her best to communicate a  _ "meh". _

"Average, huh?" He swallowed, looking thoughtful as he took his next bite.

He absentmindedly ran his thumb over her soft fur, more so enjoying the feeling than trying to pet her. Petting her was just a side effect. Of course. "... Damn, I haven't been keeping track of when you ate last. Think it's safe to say you're due for a feed?"

She opened her eyes again, having closed them distractedly at feeling his gentle touch over her.

She thought for a moment, considering it seriously. She wondered if she could put it off longer, for Rex's sake, but a small gurgle sound from her stomach interrupted her, and made her nod and look away sheepishly.

Rex nodded, lifting one finger from holding the fruit and scratching behind her giant ear. "All right, not a problem. Feeling pretty good today, so you just do what you have to, okay?"

He leaned back comfortably against the canyon wall, looking away politely as he took another large bite. Not watching her had just become a habit, he didn't know if she was actually embarrassed or not. Just seemed the right thing to do.

She chirped softly, leaning down and giving his hand a little thankful nuzzle. Then she moved to sit on his leg and position herself so she could properly line up with his veins. He gave her head a small pat, before he stretched out his wrist for her.

It did surprise him slightly, how casual and normal this felt. But. Y'know. Nothing about this situation was by any means  _ normal. _

Lucy took a deep breath, then leant forward, and bit into Rex's wrist, right into his veins with practiced ease. She gave him a little bit of venom, just enough to take away any pain and put Rex at ease.

After a few seconds of letting her venom set in, she started to drink, and held onto him tight, letting her eyes close as she felt his wonderfully warm blood flow down her throat.

Rex felt himself involuntarily relax further as the venom took effect, but found himself welcoming the feeling. It had become just as normal as the rest of this after all.

"There ya go," he said absently, in the same calm, easy voice he used with his young raptors. "That better?"

Lucy's ears twitched as she drank, moving in the direction of Rex's voice briefly, before continuing to wiggle absentmindedly in her contentment.

She really wanted to carry on, and wished she could just drink and drink till she was full, but she knew she couldn't. She stopped drinking when her thirst was barely sated, and pulled away, instead getting to work and healing Rex's bite marks with constant licks from her small tongue.

Rex, assuming she'd had her fill, nodded in approval. Yeah, he'd been right that today was a good day, he didn't feel any different now that she'd finished! Nice.

He tossed the core-like center of the fruit into his mouth, crunching down on it, nose wrinkling with distaste at the texture. But if there was one thing he'd learned from surviving on his own, it was idiocy to waste any bit of food.

He ran a finger down her back as she licked him, staring thoughtfully at the thorny growth overhead.

After another few moments, Lucy stopped licking him, and inspected his wrist, happily seeing that it was fully healed once more, and that there wasn't a spec of blood left on his arm.

She stared thoughtfully at the pulsing veins in front of her for a moment longer, and quickly had to take her mind off of them, lest she try to drink again. So, she nuzzled her soft, fluffy cheek against Rex's wrist, squeaking softly as a thank you. She did quite like the feeling of him petting her, it was definitely very soothing, and she wished he'd do it more. So she decided to encourage it, and arched her back up a bit to push more into his touch.

Rex gave an amused chuckle at her reaction, rubbing her back with his thumb, one finger resting under her chin. "Oh? Well you're welcome, c--!"

He'd been about to say cutie... Oops.

Nowadays, it was sometimes hard to remember that this was Lucy, and not, actually, a little bat he'd befriended.

"... Uh..." He looked away, a little red-faced, moving his hand to just scratch the back of her neck. "Not a problem. Glad you're feeling better."

Lucy couldn't help but make a slightly annoyed sound when Rex had moved his finger away from scratching her chin. That was such a nice sweet spot! Why did that big dumb hunk have to get all shy from accidentally being sentimental??

Oh well...

She might as well enjoy what she was given. So, she squeaked softly in response, and settled down on his lap to enjoy the scratches she was getting, loving his gentle touch and the soothing warmness of his hand and body, as his blood flowed through her. She loved it. It made her feel so much less of that bitter cold that came with starvation.

Rex couldn't help but smile at her quiet, happy noise. He moved two fingers to gently scratch behind both ears, before running them down her back again. 

At least it felt less weird to pet her now. At the beginning he hadn't been able to unsee Lucy in his mind's eye every time he looked at the little bat. And now, well, sure, he still knew it was Lucy, but it seemed a lot less weird now that he'd gotten more used to his... companion.

"I'm planning on testing out my new toy," he suddenly said, nudging the stick he'd been sharpening with a foot, continuing to pet her. "I wanna see if a few of these can help us get out of here. You know. Use the plants to get the plants out of the way? Seems like a good idea to me at least. Maybe it won't recognize that it's me moving them out of the way, and won't try to stop me. I mean I won't try cutting the vines this time.

"What are you gonna be doing?"

She nodded along with his words, but then paused, and looked away thoughtfully.

Resting and conserving her energy would probably be best for her... But then again, it was a bad idea for Rex to do all of the work, especially with his gradual blood loss. She had to help and contribute in some way. She could always take a rest if she got tired after all.

So, she looked up at one of the fruits hanging off a tree above them, and pointed to it prominently with another squeak. Then she looked directly at Rex's stomach, and gestured to it as well, making a chomping motion with her mouth, hoping that would get her message across.

Rex glanced up, realizing what she was referring to, if not entirely what she wanted.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it probably would be good to harvest those while we can. I don't know how long those stay ripe. We could do that first."

He stood up, scooping her gently with his hand again as he did.

She held tight onto his hand, though she did sigh and shake her head a little. It was a little annoying that he couldn't understand her like her Rex could...

She wondered how best to communicate that they could divide and conquer with their tasks?

Rex thought for a moment, weighing Lucy in his hand. It wasn't good for her to keep harvesting fruit for him, she was almost the same size as them after all, that had to be difficult for her... but turning into a human would probably use up just as much energy...

So, after a moment's thought, he flipped open the pocket on his vest he'd modified, holding her up to it. "Right?"

She frowned a little. Not that it was probably easy to tell on her small furry face. But still, she was unsure. If she rested now, she'd be out for a while. Probably wouldn't be any help at all. But, if Rex was suggesting it...?

She looked and pointed up at the fruit again, and made a series of chattering noises, before she turned to Rex again, her eyes darting down to his pocket, before pinning her ears back and squeaking worriedly.

"Hey, I can pick some fruit by myself, Vladcy, I'm not that helpless!" He laughed, giving her a little scratch under the chin. "You've done plenty today. Best to relax, let that blood get into your system."

That... wasn't exactly how it worked. But he didn't know that.

Lucy made almost a... buzzing, chattering sound at that. But it was in actuality a laugh. Or at least as near a sound as a bat could make.

So, she decided to concede, and nodded at him, making a motion with her wings to gesture at her pocket.

Rex nodded in approval, then turned his hand, gently tipping her into his pocket. "I'm gonna be climbing a tree, so, might be a bumpy ride!"

Lucy let out a short chattering sound as she got herself settled into his surprisingly cozy pocket, sounding almost sassy as she did.

She knew she could handle it, no sweat! No matter how bumpy it got. And besides, any turbulence was worth it. She had quickly found that she loved sitting and sleeping in Rex's pocket. It was close to his chest, so she could easily sense his soothing heartbeat, and she was right up against him to feel his warmth, culminating to make her feel totally safe and secure.

Rex laughed again at her response, his chest lurching behind her. "Right, all right, whatever you say!"

Still smiling to himself, he turned to face the tree, wasting no time in getting to work wrapping his arms around a branch and hoisting himself up. He was careful to keep his chest away from it, however, not wanting to squish his passenger.

He stayed quiet as he got to work plucking the fruit from the branches, dropping them to roll down the tree and gather at the roots. He knew Lucy had to be tired, and wanted to let her rest. He didn't know how long it would take her full meal of his blood to kick into effect and give her a proper energy boost. But she'd probably be in her human form in no time, and they could get back to work planning their escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings for this chapter!


	10. Epitaph Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warning: You may experience a bit of second hand embarrassment in this one, but it's pretty mild!

Lucy had her legs pulled up to her chest, with her arms wrapped around them, trying her best to keep herself warm as her whole body shivered violently. Her hunger was at its worst when she was in human form, but unfortunately she had no choice but to be in it right now. She needed a break from holding her bat form, and had decided to try and get some sleep to pass the time, but everything she was dealing with was too distracting, weighing on her too heavily to let her rest.

A few tears ran down her frozen pale cheeks, but they soon led to more and more, until she couldn't hold back at all. She couldn't stop letting tears fall, nor her stifled sobs from coming out.

Rex had been pacing up and down and examining the chasm walls for the last two days, searching for literally anything that could be of use. So far, nothing...

Maybe it was time to keep moving, farther into the canyon, away from the shipwreck. He didn't like it, but, it wasn't like they could never come back the way they had come. Probably.

With a sigh, he turned back the way he had come, deciding to tell Lucy his conclusion that they had to continue.

However, as he got closer, a strange sound met his ears. It only took two more steps for the noise to become recognizable.

Ah, shit--

Sure enough, as he rounded the bend, there was Lucy, in human form, curled up into herself... and sobbing.

He hesitated only a moment, mustering up courage, before walking forward, resting a hand on her back. "... Hey, Lucy..."

She turned her head slightly towards Rex, her eyes bright red and puffy as she glanced at him.

"Y-Yeah Rex...?"

He felt himself falter slightly at her expression.

Ah, geez... He wasn't good with crying. Never had been.

"... How are you doing...?" Well, go ahead and prove that, why don't you? That was a very stupid question. 

Curiously, he moved one hand to rest on her cheek, a gesture he didn't even register might be seen as intimate or affectionate. Sure enough, it was almost like touching a block of ice. "You're freezing..."

Lucy didn't move at his touch, but she glanced away, sniffing sadly.

"Yeah... I'm so, so cold... It hurts. My stomach hurts so much." She whined softly, nuzzling her cheek against his hand as she shook her head slowly.

Rex sighed softly, sitting down beside her. He moved his hand from her cheek to wrap around her, pulling her close, sharing what body heat he could.

"You really need to take more than you have been, Lucy," he scolded, brows furrowing. "Don't think I haven't caught onto you. I know you're skimping."

He rubbed his hand over her arm briskly, hoping the friction would create at least a bit of heat. "I can take it, you know? I hate seeing you like this." He paused.

"Puts a real damper on my mood y'know?" He quickly added.

She frowned deeply, letting her eyes close as she nuzzled into him, leeching off his heat, and shivering at the temperature change.

"Rex, I'm sorry, but I can't! I need at least 5 litres of blood a week, ideally more! But if I take more than 3 you'll pass out, and it'll be bad. 4 or more and you'd die!! So I have to skimp! I have to make it last as long as I can. Little and often helps, but... "

She paused, sniffing hard, before she quickly turned and buried her face into his chest, sobbing.

"I'm still so hungry, and so cold and I hate it!!! I don't know if I can do this much longer Rex!!"

Rex didn't fight it. He wrapped both of his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. His embrace was strong and sure.

"Don't you say that," he muttered. "I... I know things ain't looking too great. But... But we're gonna make it. We have to believe we can make it."

"How??" She sobbed. "How are we gonna make it? How can we get out of this damn place...?"

Once again, that same solution rose to the surface of his mind. Rex felt a chill run through him that had nothing to do with the cold woman he held.

_ 'Not yet,' _ he told himself.  _ 'It hasn't come to that yet.' _

"... Well, for one thing, I've been working hard on that crack in the wall, and I think it's finally wide enough for us to get through to the other part of the canyon. For all we know we could find an answer just on the other side. We just gotta keep on pushing through. And once we get out, we can find a way to contact them. We're survivors, Lucy, we can do this. You and me."

She pulled back from his chest, looking up at him with glistening eyes, even trying for a wobbly smile.

"Y-Yeah... We can try at least...?"

Rex ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it out from where it had been ruffled by her nuzzling, and smiled back at her. "Yeah. We're not at a dead end yet."

He stood, keeping an arm around her to pull her up as well. "Need to eat before we go? I'm feeling particularly juicy today."

It was stupid, and kind of gross, but it was worth it to keep that smile on her face.

Lucy was a little wobbly as she got to her feet, and held onto Rex for balance. She kept her hands on his forearms, feeling a strong warmth against her frozen hands.

Still, she couldn't help but laugh at his silly phrase.

"Good to know! But, I really shouldn't..." She sheepishly said, as she shrugged slightly.

"Hm... Well, if you're not gonna take my generous offer, looks like I gotta keep you warm another way!" With that, he scooped her up into his arms, giving a quiet grunt as he did. It was more from surprise than effort, however. "You're fekin light!!"

She yelped in surprise, then giggled happily, wrapping her arms around Rex's shoulders and nuzzling against his neck.

"Yep! Guess you could put it down to my healthy diet huh?~ I only drink the very best I can find!~"

Rex felt a slight rush of heat as he felt her snuggle up against his neck, quite at odds with her cold skin.

"Hah! Well, not like there's much selection to choose from! But I'm honored nonetheless." He set off in the direction of the crack, resolving to come back and see what he could salvage once Lucy was safely on the other side.

With a snort and a chuckle, Lucy shook her head, then sighed, and let her focus wander. Inevitably she took note of Rex's toned muscles around her and his pulsing veins right next to her face.

"Don't sell yourself short, big boy. Even in these dire circumstances, I wouldn't drink from you unless you had quality blood.~"

"Ah, picky eater!" Rex grinned broader, pleased that he'd been able to turn Lucy's mood around so quickly. "Well, thank goodness I'm so 'high quality,' or you would've starved the moment you collapsed, huh? Guess 'beggars can't be choosers' doesn't apply to vampires..."

"Not this one anyway.~" She chuckled, squeezing Rex a little tighter, and nuzzling him again, moving to rest her lips against his neck absentmindedly.

"I mean, think about it. Would you rather be stuck eating nothing but supper greasy fast food or tiny pillow mints for a few weeks on end? Or would you prefer a big old gourmet bit of lean beef with a nice salad, maybe some fries... Bit of peppercorn sauce too... Hmm... Yummy...~"

Rex gave an appreciative little groan at her description. "Oh,  _ god  _ I miss food that doesn't come from a plant... I'd take any of that shit right now if I'm being honest."

He tried to ignore the feeling of her against his neck, knowing full well what her instincts must be urging her to do. It was fine. She was in control, she said she didn't want any. No need to be scared of her hurting him... But, then again, that... wasn't what he was scared of.

He tossed his head, acting as if it was just to move his hair out of his face, but it was mainly to make Lucy remember herself.

"We've almost reached the narrow bit I widened out."

Her eyes flew open wider than they had been, making her look up and behind herself in the same direction as Rex with a start.

"Huh? What?"

Rex's cheeks flushed slightly. "You know, the crack? That we’re headed to? To get further into the canyon?"

"Oh... Yeah..." She muttered, as she made sure to look away from him to hide her own embarrassment. She even decided to go back to looking behind him, and rested her cheek on his shoulder.

"Sorry. I just got a bit distracted. Daydreaming about beef... Man, that stuff was a lot better when I didn't have to eat it tartar..."

Rex chuckled, burning deeper red. The 'beef' comparison had sunk in. "Ah, I bet, a lot less flavorful now, huh?"

_ 'But apparently I compare...' _ The thought made him feel surprisingly smug... Odd thing to be proud of.

"... Anyway. Yeah. Uh. It's up here."

She inadvertently squeezed Rex a little tighter, as she internally lamented the loss of being able to eat so many wonderful foods and got a little distracted once more.

"Do you need me to get down?"

... He found himself reluctant to let go. 

"... That's probably a good idea. We'll have to go sideways, it was tough to work it aside enough even for that."

She sighed softly, partly from disappointment, partly from lingering tiredness as leant back from him a little.

"Ok then. I can get down now Rex."

"Right."

He let go of her slowly, lowering her gently to the ground.

He... liked having her close.

"It's not a long squeeze, don't worry."

She set her feet down, but still held one hand onto Rex's arm for balance, and looked beside them at the crack.

"I'm not. I'm sure it'll be fine. Let's go check out that other side."

Rex nodded, moving to hold her hand. It was... more effective than her holding his arm. "I'll go first."

He turned and, trying to make himself slim as possible, began shimmying through the narrow crack in the wall.

She followed him through, holding his hand tight and doing her best to squeeze through, which definitely proved a bit more difficult with a larger chest than Rex.

At one point, she was too focused on squeezing past a certain part to notice a sharp rock poking out, and accidentally cut her free hand, making it ooze a black, thick liquid. But she did her best to ignore it, at least until they were through.

Rex finally managed to stumble free, releasing Lucy's hand as to not pull her over, instantly taking a deep breath. "Ah, shit--"

He stretched his back out. "I'm not claustrophobic, but it seems like life sure is trying to make it so I am."

"I bet. Argh-!" Lucy muttered, before she cursed under her breath. She got pinned slightly by a rock poking out at chest level, and fortunately was able to push it out of the way with a bit of her strength, before she too broke free and stumbled next to Rex.

"And honestly, I can't blame you."

Rex frowned, turning to giving her a quick once-over. That last bit hadn't sounded good. "Made it through okay, though? You--"

He spotted her hand and frowned deeper. She immediately followed his line of sight, and turned her hand over, seeing the still leaking cut on her palm.

"It's just a little cut, and a little bit of bleeding. No biggie. It can heal eventually..."

Rex didn't seem convinced, but nodded slightly. "... Right."

He glanced around at their surroundings. This side of the valley didn't look any different from the one they had just left. But then again, he hadn't really expected it to be. His disappointment was only a slight twinge. He was more concerned for Lucy than anything. That tiny cut should have healed by now.

"I think the best plan would be to find a nice tree, and make that our next resting spot." He squinted slightly through the shade. "I think I see a cluster up ahead."

He turned back to Lucy, arms lifting slightly from his sides, wanting to pick her up again, but much more hesitant this time. She smiled at him sweetly, and didn't wait to walk up to him and into his arms, ready to be picked up again.

"Let's go find a nice spot then? Hopefully they'll be some better stuff on this side, and we can go look later."

Rex was definitely happy to do so, easily lifting her up again. For her being the magical nonhuman, she seemed so delicate... He liked holding her like this, almost like he was 'keeping her safe'... It felt nice to feel that she relied on him for more than blood.

"With luck? We'll find something useful. Without? We'll make it so!"

With that promise, he set off again. "We can rest once we find a nice spot, don't worry."

"Hmm... Rest sounds good." She happily muttered, settling into his nice, warm, safe embrace as much as before.

It was oddly soothing to be held. Almost like it was when she was in his pocket. But, whilst she did enjoy both, she couldn't deny she liked this a little more. Maybe it was something about the equal size, but still being able to be held? How it showed off his strength? 

She paused in her thoughts as she sighed, then, glanced around behind Rex uneasily.

"... You... Think we can have a uh... Little snack when we stop...?"

"Huh!  _ Now  _ you take me up on my offer!" He was smiling, however. "Yeah, I think you're overdue for that. That won't be a problem."

He gently bumped his head against hers, in a way he hoped was encouraging. Looked like he'd been right about the trees ahead.

She blushed sheepishly. Not that Rex could see from this angle. But still, it was a little embarrassing.

At least Rex seemed rather chipper about it.

"Good to hear. And, well, thank you in advance."

"Hey, not a problem. It's nice to see you trying to keep yourself alive now." He hadn't meant it to sound that way, but... He couldn't help but be a little frustrated by how often it was he that had to remind her to feed.

She frowned a little at that, looking away as she held him a little tighter around his shoulders.

Very quietly, she sadly muttered: "...I'm just trying to keep you alive..."

Rex went quiet for the rest of the walk to the small cluster of trees. He had to think in order to come up with a good reply to that.

He paused as he reached the shade of one of the fruit-laden trees, holding Lucy a little tighter in return.

"... I know. I just... worry about you. A lot. I know you're trying to keep me safe and, you know, I really appreciate that. But. I don't want...

"... I hate that it's at your expense. I just want you to make sure that you're taking good enough care of yourself. I can always recover from losing blood with time, I'll take the headaches and dizziness... but you can't come back from the dead again."

She shut her eyes tight, nuzzling into him as she hummed sadly. One of her hands moved upwards, and started to gently stroke through his hair, the action soothing her, as much as it was hopefully soothing him.

"I know... I know Rex... I'm sorry it has to be like this at all but... Well, it's not like I asked to be a vampire in the first place. I can't help that part. But... I suppose I can try taking a bit more blood this time? And the next. Feed myself a bit better...? "

Rex nodded, satisfied by this answer. "Yeah. I'd like-- That sounds like a good plan to me."

He rested his head against hers, tilting it slightly so she could pet him better. "After all, we are one more step closer to getting out. You're gonna need your strength if we're escaping soon."

"You're definitely right about that." She chuckled.

There was a moment's pause as she thought, looking at Rex's tilted head, and feeling his hair under every movement of her hand.

"... So, you think I should... Bite you now...?" She hesitantly asked.

Rex slowly lowered himself to the ground, keeping his arms around her, her legs around his waist. In a moment he was sitting on the ground, her seated in front of and on top of him.

Without a word, he tilted his head away from her, slowly reaching up to sweep his long hair out of the way.

She was a little surprised by how trusting he seemed to be, but at the same time, she wasn't about to complain.

She shifted a little, positioning herself just right, leaning closer to his exposed neck, and breathed her chilling breath on him as she spoke, just checking one more time to be certain.

"... Are you sure you're OK with... here? I can stop if you want me to."

"It's fine," he said quickly, mumbling slightly. "You just... d... do what you need to do."

No point in telling her about the encouragement he'd gotten from the weird dreams he'd been having about this--no doubt spawned by his curiosity, or about how symbolic he had made this out to be for himself in his own mind... How this was his way of showing his complete trust in her.

Well, it probably would be easy for her now, considering how much blood had rushed to his face.

She nodded once, her gaze quickly focusing in on where best she could place her fangs into his neck.

"Ok Rex. If you're sure. If you need me to stop, just tap me a few times, and I will. I promise." She said, softly and sincerely.

And with that, she leaned in closer, pressed her lips to him, and let her fangs sink in deep.

Rex couldn't help but inhale sharply, digging his fingers into the material of her hoodie. But he made no movements other than that, keeping his upper body obediently still.

It definitely... felt... different, for her to bite him there. It wasn't like it hurt any more than on his wrist, or that he felt his blood draining faster, or anything of the sort.

She was just so... so much closer. That was really it.

The soft tranquility he'd grown so accustomed to flowed through him shortly after her fangs had sunk in, releasing the calming venom. He felt his tense grip on her relax, his embarrassed nervousness fading away in the calm she gave him.

There was only a slight pressure that could be felt from where her fangs were sunk into his skin, the rest was all soft... her hold on him, her lips, her body against his--

... Oh.

_ Oh no. _

Lucy had been entirely engrossed in her task, in simply enjoying Rex's exquisite tasting blood, his warmth and comfort having him so close, it was all incredibly distracting.

She'd just about had her fill, more so than she'd had a number of times before, when she finally noticed a slight pressure against her. It only took her a moment to figure out what it was, but fortunately she was able to act like she hadn't.

She kept on drinking, something that would no doubt leave Rex quite light headed, until she finally stopped. She pulled her teeth out, and gave him a few healing licks. She didn't mean it to be teasing, it was just a necessity. She couldn't have him bleeding out after all. No matter how it might affect what was currently going on with Rex.

Rex bit down, hard, on his lip, just to give himself something to focus on other than the soft sensation of her tongue gently running over him.

Oh, shit, oh fuck, this was even worse than the bite had been... There was something just so... sweet, and irresistible, about the small bit of contact. He had to resist the sudden urge to press his hands up under her shirt, pull her to him, to... t-to.....

He felt faint. The world swam slightly in his vision, and he closed his eyes, willing himself to focus on his breathing, trying to slip into the comfort of a meditative state. Blood loss, venom, and overwhelming sensory input. This was all adding up to be way too much to deal with...

Lucy felt her heart race as it kicked up to pump around the new blood she'd gotten, thankful to feel some of it rest in her stomach, instead of it all immediately going to her bloodstream.

Though of course, maybe it wasn't just the blood making her like this...? She was so close to Rex after all. And he had... obviously reacted to her. Maybe...

...

She paused suddenly, almost with a start as she realised she had pressed her lips to where her bite had been. But instead of looking like she was gonna bite him again, her lips were instead pressed into a gentle kiss.

Of course, once she realised what she was doing, she pulled her head away from his neck, her cheeks going visibly red as she blushed, and tried to look away.

Rex felt her lean back quickly, confusion joining the unreadable haze of emotions in his mind.

Why had she stopped...?

Gradually, Rex opened his eyes again, blinking slowly.

_ Focus, Rex. You did this for Lucy, that's all. Quit spacing out in your perverted fantasy. How is she?? Did it work, is she better?? _

Rex's eyes locked on her face, and his eyes lit up happily.

"... Your cheeks are red again," he said lightly, reaching up a hand to rest on her.

She smiled back at him, her embarrassment fading at seeing him so pleased. It warmed her heart to see he cared, maybe even as much as the fresh blood running through her body did.

"Yeah. Nice and warm, too. The rest of my skin should catch up and look and feel less like ice pretty soon too."

Rex nodded happily, only to quickly stop as his brain rattled around in his head. So he settled for gently patting her cheek instead. "Good, good..."

His eyes lazily moved over her, her newly-warmed face and expression, her--

He had to tug his gaze back to her face. Letting his gaze wander wasn't about to kill the heat in his lower body. Shit, he hoped she hadn't noticed... Then again, she wasn't moving, and didn't seem uncomfortable, so maybe she hadn't?

Right. He just needed a moment to calm down.

She chuckled softly, then smiled warmly, but it was definitely tainted with a hint of concern. She lifted her hand and gently ran it through his hair a few times, letting her other rest around his shoulders.

"You are gonna need to take it easy for a while big guy. I took maybe a litre from you just now. And that, combined with what I've already taken in the past, and that your blood seems to wanna be somewhere else than your brain right now, means you are gonna be quite dizzy.~" She chuckled, resting both her arms around him, partly in affection, but also to help keep him upright and secure.

"It might even be good for you, or us, to have a lie down."

... Ah. She had noticed.

Some of his blood returned to his cheeks, and he couldn't meet her eye anymore. "Ah, yeah, uh, a quick rest wouldn't be a bad idea..." he mumbled, fidgeting with the folds of her hoodie.

"If you're feeling good though you don't gotta, I could rest here by myself if you wanted to look around?" he offered, partly because he was curious and would have been happy to look around himself, and partly because he wanted to hide the fact that right now, badly, he wanted to cuddle her as he slept.

She rubbed one of her thumbs over his shoulder, smiling at him sweetly as she took in his endearing self-consciousness.

"Well... If I rested now, I could conserve my energy for longer... But who knows? Maybe if I go searching, I'll be lucky enough to find a little critter or two for a snack on this side of the valley. Or something else than bitter fruit for you. And hey, while I'm gone, you could always have some  _ alone time _ if you wanted...?" 

Rex's face darkened a few shades. He quickly threw up his hands, waving them frantically through the air. "Ahah, n-no, no need for that!!! I'm just, gonna, let this one pass on by! Just a weird reaction to the venom, I think--!!"

Lucy could stop herself from snorting then bursting out laughing, even leaning into Rex's collarbone as she shook her head from mirth.

After a moment, she managed to lean back again and compose her, sighing happily.

"A-Alright then!  _ -snrk!!- _ You do what you want Rex. But for the record, there's no shame in reacting like that. You aren't the first person I've accidentally gotten an awkward boner from. And you probably won't be the last. And hey, just count yourself lucky that you aren't my Rex. Poor guy used to get so embarrassed whenever he got one when he was stuck as a wolf. So I've more than gotten used to it. You're totally fine."

Rex gave her a smile that looked more like an uncomfortable grimace. Made sense for her boyfriend to react like this, yeah...! ... Though. That was an interesting mental image--

He quickly shut his train of thought down. No, shut down the entire station. For good, possibly. Never to think again.

"Yeah, it's totally fine..." He sighed, his grimace settling into a sheepish smile. "Just, uh... Whatever you do is up to you, I dunno. I'm gonna take you up on that nap."

She giggled at him again, and leaned in close to him. She planted a short, soft kiss on his cheek, then sat right back again, looking at him warmly.

"Thank you Rex. For everything."

She paused for a moment, then moved to stand.

"I'm gonna look around. You start getting some rest and I'll join you later, okay?"

Rex tried to dismiss how his heart fluttered at that soft kiss. He smiled back at her, a soft, genuine one this time. 

He was reluctant to see her get up, even more reluctant to let her go. But he let her rise, then crossed his legs, stretching his arms over his head with a soft grunt. "Sssssounds like a plan...! Good luck!"

She stood and turned, grinning over her shoulder at him as she started to walk.

"Thanks. Save a warm spot next to you for when I'm back, big guy!" 

And with that, she turned and headed deeper into the forest.

"Will do--" He couldn't think of a fitting while still totally-not-flirting playful name before she was gone. 

Rex watched where she'd vanished wistfully, then sighed, laying back on the ground. He crossed his arms over his chest, closing his eyes and obstinately tuning out his surroundings, and himself.

Inhale, exhale, nothing but his breaths and his clear mind. Meditation was easy for him, just like flicking a switch and turning the world off. No thoughts, no distractions, no mental images of Lucy smiling at him, how happy she seemed, how close and comforting it had been to hold her, the ghost of her mouth against him, her laugh--

God damn it.

He rolled onto his side with a huff, scowling. Oh well. Looks like he was gonna be drifting off to thoughts of Lucy......... Couldn't be helped. There were worse ways to go, anyway.


	11. Epitaph Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warning: Mild gore, animal death
> 
> Summary: Lucy manages to find a small mammal on this side of the canyon, and the promise of fresh meat is more than she can handle. She attacks the thing in a feeding frenzy, her ferocity testing the newfound trust these two had only recently forged...  
> But hey, it would take more than that to frighten Rex Dangervest!! Rex now understands the amount of control she has around him.

Lucy walked through a close cluster of trees with Rex right beside her, close enough that they could have held hands if they wanted to, not that Rex had noticed that of course. Lucy hadn't managed to find anything on her own, and Rex was feeling better, so they had decided to press on together. So far much of what they'd found had been the same. There were still vines overhead, more bitter apple things and berries, not really anything to tell the two sides of the canyon apart. She and Rex had been idly chatting about the differences, and their plans for what to do next, when Rex absentmindedly stood on a twig, which made it crack loudly as it broke. A second later, Lucy froze in her tracks, her eyes fixed straight ahead as she threw out her arm to make Rex stop as well.

Rex froze instantly when Lucy signaled for him to, heart pounding.

Was there danger? Down here?? Damn, he wouldn't even be worried, something to break the monotony would be  _ great _ right now. Maybe, like, some kinda canyon creature he had to slay to protect them? That would be badass as  **fuck.**

Slowly Rex reached for his knife, eyes locked on Lucy as he tried to read her mind. What was the plan?

Lucy's eyes and head moved slowly, as if she was tracking something through the underbrush. Her eyes were intense, glowing red as she slowly took one, two, three steps forward, not making even the smallest noise as she did. One hand stayed on Rex's chest for a moment, only moving off on him once she was more than an arms length away from him. She stopped, leaning forward, her torso hunched slightly and her legs bent, as if she was about to run. She wasn't paying any attention to Rex now, her attention instead locked on something out of sight.

Aha, she was getting the first strike! Made sense, if this creature was invisible or something (which it very well could be, as Rex certainly couldn't see a threat anywhere), she would be far better suited to attacking first, with her vampire senses.

Rex drew his knife silently, getting into a ready stance himself, still staring at Lucy.

There was a moment where she didn't move, didn't breathe, didn't dare make any sound at all. Then her mouth slowly opened, revealing her elongated fangs as she hissed very softly, so quietly that Rex could barely hear it.

Then, all at once, she moved. She darted forward at breakneck speed, vaulted over a bush effortlessly, and dived forward to the ground, snarling and hissing over the sound of something else suddenly squeaking and squealing.

Rex started running only a second after she did, but hesitated at the bush she had so effortlessly leapt over.

What was... squeaking??

"... Lucy...?"

Rex slowly strode around the bush until Lucy was in sight, knife still clenched in his fist.

The ground around her was muddied and kicked up, like she'd rolled around and grappled with the thing now in her grasp.

It was small. Maybe about the size of a raptor hatchling, but it looked more like a purple Guinea pig than anything else. At least... It might have, at one point. It had probably been a mid-sized rodent of some kind, but it was getting increasingly impossible to tell.

Lucy's face was covered in blood; it was smeared all over her cheeks and mouth. The animal had stopped moving and making noise by this point. Lucy snarled viciously, her teeth tearing into flesh and viscera, her frenzy leaving the creature looking more like a lump of blood and meat than anything that ever was once alive.

She didn't care what she was doing. She probably wasn't even aware of what was going on. Her body and instincts were entirely in control. In that moment, as she tore off and ate chunks of flesh and lapped hungrily at the oozing waning life force it leaked out, she wasn't Lucy.

Rex took a step backwards. Then another.

This...  _ creature _ tearing into that animal... had been inside of Lucy all this time...??

Everything he knew about Lucy told him there was no way. That what he was seeing couldn't be real. Lucy was sweet, and careful, and gentle, and...

There was another unpleasant sound, and Rex had to turn away as his insides clenched.

... Hadn't there been a time when she was close to doing this to  _ him...?? _

Part of her registered his movement off to her side, but she didn't care. She was too engrossed in her meal, and even in her haze she somehow knew the other being wasn't a threat and wasn't going to interfere with her food. It was just more prey, and yet not prey somehow? 

It didn't matter that much. It wasn't a competitor for her food, so it didn't bother her to think on it anymore. 

So she continued. She snarled, she growled, she pulled at and tore apart the once-animal to her insatiable delight, occasionally biting into it and draining blood from its tissue, then going back to eating more bits and pieces.

With her frenzied pace, it wasn't long before there wasn't much left of the poor thing, and what there was didn't interest her. She simply dropped the garbage parts like bone that were of no use to her to the ground, and was soon distracted with the more tasty task of licking clean all the juicy delicious blood splattered over her hands.

Rex kept his gaze on the trees around him, running his thumb over the hilt of his knife just for something to do, to keep his mind on.

He didn't want to turn and run and startle her, but he definitely didn't want to approach her when she was like this.

... Fuck. Fucking...  _ fuck. _ He was scared again.

... No! No, not scared, just uneasy! She just lost herself while eating, no biggie... Best to just... let her finish her meal...!

So there he stood, unsure what to do with himself, staring at nothing, thumb tracing over the snake engraved into his knife's hilt, missing Rocket, wishing to be anywhere but there.

It took a little while, but eventually there wasn't any blood left on Lucy's hands, and not much left on her arms either. But still, the strong scent of it lingered as it remained plastered on her face, clouding her mind even as her senses and thoughts slowly returned to her.

That had been a nice little meal, but she realised something she'd forgotten; there had been more prey-- not prey-- whatever it was nearby. Where had that gone...?

Slowly she stood, eyes searching curiously for whatever she was looking for.

Rex heard the unpleasant noises die down, and risked a glance back at Lucy.

She was looking around, evidently confused. Did she not realize what had happened...? Somehow that wasn't reassuring.

"... Lucy? You g--?"

He was cut off with a shock as she suddenly spotted and darted towards him. She leapt over the bush and charged at him, pouncing on him and knocking him down, her eyes lit up with a mix of interest and predatory intent.

Rex gave a panicked cry, his knife flying from his hand as he lost his grip in his shock.

Well this was real damn familiar...!!

Except last time, she hadn't been splattered with blood from a fresh kill. He hasn't seen her looking at him like this.

"Sh-shit, fuck  **off,** _ I'm not food!!" _ Rex spluttered, trying to shove her away. When that proved ineffective, her nails digging into his shirt, he clenched one hand into a fist and prepared to swing-- only for Lucy to catch his wrist and pin it down, her reflexes too fast now.

_ "Fuckin' hell, Lu...!" _ Rex snarled, tears springing to his eyes as his fear spiked again, full-force.

Was he really about to fucking  _ die? _ After all this?!?

She stared at him intently, holding him down and not letting him go, but not going for an attack right away either. His words were familiar, they resonated with her somehow, making her tilt her head and squint her eyes curiously.

Slowly she spoke, her speech sounding empty, without emotion, as if she was trying to state the obvious and believe it.

"..... Re... Rex...?"

_"YES,_ goddamn it, it's _me,_ **REX!!!"** he snapped, voice cracking on the last word. He didn't have time for her to slowly and dramatically come out of this trance like in some drama fic, she needed to snap out of it, and NOW, and get the fuck off of him!!!

Her grip on him went slack as she realised who he was, and her haze lifted more and more. She blinked, seeming to light up, and even smile at him. But the genuinely happy look was rather unsettling on that blood stained face.

"Oh! Hey Rex!"

For a moment, all Rex could do was stare at her, slightly stunned; stunned that his yelling had worked, at her sudden demeanor change, and at how out of place her cheerfulness looked on her body face.

And then--

_ "GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!!" _ he barked, his earlier fear manifesting as angry frustration.

She looked hurt at his sudden yelling, then confused as she looked down and saw how she was pinning him. Quickly she pushed off him, ending up stumbling back and sitting in front of him, her eyes darting over him with worry. "Rex, what just--?"

She'd frowned as she'd spoken, which made her pause as something slightly wet and slightly dry pulled on her face. She touched it, pulling her hand forward to see blood on her fingertips, which made her eyes widen in horror.

"Holy **fuck!!!** _Rex are you hurt?!!"_

Rex pushed himself up off of the ground into a sitting position, grimacing. "Yes, I'm fine… But your new little buddy over there isn't."

He gestured over at the scattered gristle on the ground.

"You didn't do anything to me. Just fucking tackled me that's all..."

She stood up very slowly and carefully, not making any sudden moves to startle Rex, before she looked over at the creature's remains, or lack thereof...

"O-Oh... Yeah that thing is-... You're okay at least but, yeah I guess that wasn't a pretty sight."

"No, not gonna sugar coat it, that was...  _ really _ fucked up." Rex gave a nervous chuckle, resting his arms on his knees and looking up at her. "But hey. Better that thing than me I guess..."

She whipped her head back to him, somehow looking even more horrified than she had before. "I-I'd  _ never _ do that to you!!! That was totally different! I-I--!! I'd never--" She stuttered to a halt, her face going red as she turned away, and started to try and rub some of the blood off her face with her arm, almost panicked as her mind spiralled into horrible images of what she could have done to Rex.

"Hey, woah--"

Rex quickly stood, and was at her side in an instant. "I-I know you wouldn't! I..."

... Well. He had doubted her. For a few moments, he had seriously doubted her.

"... I know you don't want to hurt me."

He rested a hand on her head, gently petting her hair. "Sorry. I shouldn't have joked like that."

She turned to him, her face still partly smeared with blood, her lip threatening to quiver as she pursed her lips, trying to put a lid on her emotions as they almost started to boil over. "N-No, I overreacted. I just...  _ F-fuck _ Rex, you really think I'd tear into you like that...? Just the thought of that is-- i-it's heartbreaking. I'd never, ever want to do that...!" She whimpered.

Rex's expression softened. Looking at her like this, so horrified just at the thought of... 

She had recognized him. Even in that frenzy, she had recognized him, and pulled herself out of it, because she knew it was him.

"No. Lucy, I'm sorry, I know you wouldn't, you'd never do that to me."

He moved his hand under her chin, the other gently rubbing at some of the blood on her cheek.

"I'm sorry that I freaked out at you. I know you  **won't** hurt me."

And he really meant it this time.

Her eyes glistened with tears that could fall at any moment, but she tried not to let them. Gently she rested a hand on Rex's arm as he so kindly helped clean the mess on her face, and she felt so overwhelmingly grateful that he could be so understanding. "You don't have to be sorry about anything. Not after what I just did. That must have been terrifying..."

"Like I said. Truthfully? That  _ was _ pretty damn terrifying."

He chuckled, licking his thumb to get a spot on her cheekbone that had dried. "But I've stood down with a raptor in a bad mood, so. I really should be used to anything by now, yeah? This was just a little freakout, nothing irredeemable. And hey, you feel a little better with some not-Rex juice in you, right? It's good to have a varied diet!"

For a moment she met his eye, before looking away again and shrugging slightly. "A little, yeah... Not as good as yours, but was quite nice to find something I didn't need to hold back for. Even if it wasn't a pretty sight."

"Oh, you can stop going on about the 'not a pretty sight.' In hindsight? You looked fucking badass!" He put his hands on his hips, raising his eyebrows and giving her a half smile.

"It doesn't matter, okay? This is a good sign. A great sign. If things can get down here, we can sure as hell get up."

She rubbed her arm and fidgeted nervously, but, thinking about it, he wasn't wrong. "Well, yeah, I guess you're right? Maybe there is more hope of finding some escape on this side of the canyon?"

"I  _ know _ there is," he replied gently, taking her hand and squeezing it. "Stop looking at the negatives, I'm not the one who's supposed to be the optimist here! I'm Rex Dangervest, moody asshole extraordinaire!!"

Lucy giggled at that, squeezing his hand back as she tried for a tiny smile. "True! But I'm not allowed to give you a run for your money?" She said, a slight wobble in her voice. "I am a vampire after all. Aren't I supposed to be the broody one?"

Rex tilted his head, pretending to think hard. "Hmm..." 

He shook his head, grinning. "Nah. You may be a vampire, but you're also a total fluffball with bright pink and blue hair that loves singing and cuddling with a giant puppy every night. You can't come close to the brooding levels I've accomplished!"

Huffing, she tilted her head, grinning a little wider as she took a tentative step closer to him. "Well I am also an apocalypse badass that used to brood every night on a statue of liberty. And hide in the shadows on bright sunny days. Doesn't that help me come close?~"

Oof, she was close--!

Rex snorted, looking down and away as he flushed. "Well, maybe. I think I've still got leagues on you!" 

He took a deep breath. "But I don't like to talk about my backstory so don't even ask."

He put on his best serious face as he looked back over at her, but it was clear from the way the corners of his mouth twitched that he was fighting a losing battle.

She beamed up at him, getting a cheekish glint in her eye as his better mood rubbed off on her. She put on a stern look of her own, her voice going dark, but still with a hint of lightness to it.

"Maybe I want to ask? See if war has hardened your heart...?~"

His smile was managing to break through now. "Hey, it has! I can brood anytime, anywhere now!"

He suddenly pulled her close, looking deep into her red eyes, expression grim. "We're all alone out here. Until we get out of this damn canyon and send a message to the ship, we can't count on anyone but ourselves. It's you and me against this entire damn planet, that seems completely set out to kill us."

But then, suddenly, a warm, goofy smile broke through the shadows on his face. "But hey, I like those odds."

The mirth in his face, seeing him let his walls down like this made her heart flutter, and she laughed brightly, moving an arm to his back to help stop her from falling over. And obviously there was no other reason why she wanted to hold him when they were already so close.

"You know, I don't think this planet stands a chance against you and me."

Rex looked at her for a moment, eyes flicking over her face, expression practically shining with happiness.

Then he laughed, letting go and stepping back again. He still kept one of his hands in hers, however. "You got that right, darlin! This place doesn't know who it's messing with!!"

Her face flushed happily, her earlier worries quickly fading to the back of her mind at Rex's wonderfully warm smile and chipper attitude. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here Rexy."


End file.
